41 



2 contributed by Rev. S. Hopkins Emery, of Taunton, 
to the History of Bristol County, Massachusetts : 
'as a highly dignified and polished gentleman, of great 
of character, and he was favored with a wife who 
the society in which she moved. Long after they 
) be among the living of earth, their praise was in the 
f those who remembered their wide and commanding- 

e Padelford died January 7, 18 10, aged 58 years and 
th. On the stone slab which covers his remains on 
n,' is the following inscription : 

he was wise to know and warm to praise and strenu- 
anscribe in human life the mind almighty.' " 



UNCLE AUGUSTUS. 

all sends me the 'following brief record about my 
Augustus Deane : 

•H Augustus Deane (sixth from John and Alice Deane, 
3ii,) was the second son of Joseph and Mary Gilmore 
f Raynham, Mass., born June 25, 1802. After work- 
the old homestead of his father and attending public 
id a season at Bristol Academy, until 18 years of age, 
to Ellsworth, Me., in 1820, and entered the office of 
sr, Col. John G. Deane, as a student at law. In August, 
left his studies and engaged as clerk in the store of 
ti Black, in Ellsworth, and became a partner in the 
at twenty-one, remaining a few years. In 1833 he 
linted clerk of the court of Hancock County, and set- 
"astine, then the shire town, remaining there until 



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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



JOHN G. DEANE, 



Brief Mention of His Connection with the 



Northeastern Boundary of Maine, 



Copied by permission from the records of the 
Maine State Historical Soeiety ; 



Also, Family and Other Memoranda. 



(PRINTED FOR PRIVATE USE.) 



^W'W 







#w^. 



w^w Am 



?<iK : S/. 



MimW mlM^W i^JMW 






Compliments of 



L DEANE, 

of Washington, D. C. 



Memoranda about Members of the Family, Old 

Residents of the City of Ellsworth, 

Maine, &c. 



PREPARED BY, AND PRINTED FOR, HIS SON, 

LLEWELLYN DEANE, 

h 
June, 1885, 

FOR PRIVATE USE. 



R. Berksford, Printer, Washington, D. C. 
1887 



Compliments of 



L DEANE, 

of Washington, D. C. 



■ 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



JOHN G. DEANE, 



Brief Mention of his connection with the 
Northeastern Boundary of Maine, 

Copied by permission from the records of the Maine State Historical Society ; 
ALSO, 

Memoranda about Members of the Family, Old 

Residents of the City of Ellsworth, 

Maine, &c. 



PREPARED BY, AND PRINTED FOR, HIS SON, 

LLEWELLYN DEANE, 

h 
June, 1885, 

for private use. 



R. Berfsford, Printer, Washington, D. C. 
1887 



I N D E X 



Page 

John G. Deane, Biographical sketch of; read before Maine Historical Society, 3 

Col. John Black, Brief sketch of 9 

Public services of John G. Deane 10 

N. E. Boundary Question, John G. Deane's connection with the 14 

Obituary notice of John G. Deane, with full mention of his doings in the 

N. E. Boundary matter; by Hon. C. S. Davies 17 

Family notes , 24 

Mrs. Deane, Biographical sketch of; by Rev. Dr. J. E. Rankin 29 

Ancestral memoranda 31 

Joseph Deane and his Wife, Sketch of; by J. W. D. Hall 34 

Joseph Deane, Sketch of; by Joseph A. Deane 36 

Joseph Deane, Obituary notice of 38 

Judge Padelford, Sketch of; by J. W. D. Hall 39 

Joseph A. Deane, Sketch of ; by J. W. D. Hall 41 

Mrs. Ann (Cook) Moulton, Note about ,. 42 

Mrs. Rebecca (Cook) Conant, Note about 43 

Cumberland Bar, Action of, on death of Henry P. Deane 43 

Byron D. VerrilPs remarks on same occasion 44 

Hon. C. W. Goddard's remarks on same occasion 46 

Judge W. W. Virgin's remarks on same occasion 48 

Extracts from letters of John G. Deane to his Wife (before marriage) 51 

Mrs. C. J- Milliken, Letter from, about John G. Deane and Ellsworth 57 

Hon. Israel Washburn's estimate of John G. Deane's public services 59 

Gov. Lincoln, Letter from 60 

Col. John Black, Note about 61 

Secretary of Maine Historical Society, Letter from 62 

Hon. Joseph Williamson, Letter from 62 

Hon. C. W. Goddard, Letter from 62 

G. E. 15. Jackson, Letter from 63 

Hon. W. W. Rice, Letter from 63 

Mrs. A. W. Clark, Letter from 64 

Mrs. C. L. (Jellison) Trubshaw, Letter from 66 

Mrs. Sabra (Deane) Otis, Letter from 67 

Chief Justice Peters, Letter from 68 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 

OF 

JOHN G. DEANE, 

OF 

PORTLAND, MAINE. 



John Gilmore Deane was born in Raynham, Massachusetts, 
March 27, 1785. His parents were *Joseph and Mary (Gil- 
more) Deane, both of whom were born and lived and died, in 
said Raynham. 

He graduated at Brown University, in the class of 1806; 
read law in Taunton, Massachusetts, with *Hon. Seth Padel- 
ford, (Judge of Probate and LL. D. "Brown,") and settled in 
Ellsworth, Maine, September 23, 1809. He married, Septem- 
ber 13, 1 8 10, Rebecca, who was born in Taunton May 29, 1792,. 
and was the youngest daughter of Judge Padelford, aforesaid, 
and Rebecca (Dennis) his wife. 

AS A LAWYER AND A MAN. 

Mr. Deane was admitted as attorney in the Court of Com- 
mon Pleas, Hancock County, in 18 10, and, according to the 
rule in those days, four years later, as counsellor in the Su- 
preme Court. (For many years Hancock County was very 
large territorially. From 1810 to 1816 it included a portion 
of Penobscot County, and from 18 10 to 1827 most of what is 
now Waldo County, as well as a part of the present Knox 

* See appendix. 



County. Castine was the shire town till February 17, 1836.) 
He acquired a very extensive law practice, and was held in high 
esteem by the Court and Bar. He enjoyed the warm personal 
friendship of Simon Greenleaf, John Or, Jacob McGaw, Wil- 
liam Abbott, Samuel Fessenden, William P. Preble, Thomas A. 
Deblois, Joshua W. Hathaway, Prentiss Mellen, George Her- 
bert, Charles S. Davies, and most of the judges and leading 
lawyers of the State in those days. He was not only a good 
student of the law, but he had a very fine literary taste, — his 
style of composition was remarkably pure and graceful. He 
gathered a very good miscellaneous library of the best works 
in history, poetry, romance and essays; his law library was a 
very large one for those days, comprising the standard text 
books and the American and English Reports. He was a 
subscriber to North American Review from the first issue. 

He certainly held some town offices — but as the town rec- 
ords were destroyed by fire some years ago, it is not possible 
now to say what offices or when he was the incumbent. It 
appears by records in the Massachusetts State House that in 
1 813 he was one of the Selectmen who signed a petition to re- 
imburse the town of Ellsworth for the expenses of the militia 
ordered out to suppress the riot in Castine in July, 181 3. 

He was connected with the militia organizations during his 
earlier professional life, and was in brief service as an officer 
during the war of 1812. He subsequently rose to the position 
of Lieutenant-Colonel in the militia, and in his later years was 
commonly known as "Colonel" Deane. 

He had a great fondness for all kinds of manly sports ; loved 
to have about him good horses and fine dogs, and was enthu- 
siastic in hunting and fishing. His ardent pursuit of these 
pastimes led him very often to make long excursions into the 
then wild regions north and northeast of the town of Ells- 
worth. He was famous in all the region round about as a 
marksman. It was commonly reported that at Thanksgiving 
shootings he was either ruled out or obliged to shoot double, 
or treble, the distance of the ordinary range. 



PERSONALLY AND SOCIALLY. 

While I have spoken of my father as a lawyer and a man, I 
deem it only proper to say a few words about him personally 
and socially, simply as my father — a purely private individual. 

In stature he was about five feet ten inches tall, of fair size 
in frame, spare in flesh, rather dark in complexion, hair brown, 
eyes also brown. He never wore a beard. Though a good 
conversationalist he w^as not talkative, but rather inclined to 
taciturnity. In his family, however, and with his children he 
was more the ".big brother " than the stern parent, and had a 
pleasant and affectionate way of entering into the studies, 
sports and engagements of our youth. I well remember when 
in the winter of 1838-9, he was busy with the draughtsman in 
the preparation of his map of Maine, and used the parlors of 
our State street house in Portland as his office, how intensely 
he was delighted at finding one day among his papers, my 
childish attempt at a war romance. The marvel and fun of it 
were on his tongue for many a day afterwards. Nor can I ever 
forget the romps we younger children used to have with him 
on the floor, sofas and about the room. When I was only ten 
years of age, once on his return from a brief absence, he gave 
me "Botta's American Revolution," saying that though writ- 
ten by an Italian, it was the only good history of that war. 
He was greatly concerned that his boys should be well versed 
in history. He took a youthful pride in the account my 
brothers Joseph and Henry gave of the debates before the 
"Pnyxian" and " Philomathean" debating societies, which 
about those times had quite a local reputation, particularly the 
former. Always on his return from atrip to the "Westward," 
that is, Massachusetts, he was sure to remember all his boys 
with a present of a book. 

LIFE IN ELLSWORTH. 

My father was not a member of any church. In his earlier 
life in Ellsworth, after the organization of the Congregational 



church in 1812, he, with my mother, worshiped there, and 
the whole family attended that church till our removal to 
Portland. The pastor from September 3, 181 2, to November 
11, 1835, Rev. Peter Nourse, (brother to the late Dr. Amos 
Nourse, of Bath, formerly U. S. Senator from Maine,) was a 
famous man in those days; renowned for his zeal in the gospel 
ministry and for the goodness of his heart. I know we little 
folks, in the latter days of his pastorate, used to think his ser- 
mons exceedingly long. I am sure that he sowed good seed 
in that soil, and watered them faithfully with prayers and tears. 
When I first read Goldsmith's "Deserted Village" it seemed 
to me that his parish priest 

" Passing rich with forty pounds a year," 

was a veritable or counterpart Pastor Nourse. This godly 
man was indeed rarely useful in his day and generation in edu- 
cational as well as gospel matters, but, if my childhood's mem- 
ory serves me well, his life was not a gay period of enjoyment, 
or rich with present rewards for work well done. I hold his 
memory in warm esteem because of the respect and affection 
with which my parents regarded him. Our family were not 
allowed to talk lightly or with disrespect of our religious 
teacher. He was my mother's pastor and spiritual counsellor 
in the many scenes of affliction she was called to pass through 
in the sickness and death of those of her children who de- 
ceased before we moved from Ellsworth, and in the death of 
her mother, Mrs. Judge Padelford, who, having for some time 
made her home with my parents, died there about 1822. The 
funerals of all these were attended by Pastor Nourse. They 
were all buried in the Congregational churchyard — a modest 
stjne tells their resting places and names. 

Nor was my father alone interested in the upbuilding of this 
church — his catholic views in religious matters led him to 
make a donation when the Baptist church was being built on 
the west side of the river, not far from the present county 
buildings. I suppose his gift amounted at least to the price of 
a pew, for I know that not long before we moved from Ells- 



worth I attended services in that church one afternoon with 
some older members of our family, and sat in what we called 
" father's" pew. 

I am greatly surprised as I write to note how vividly the 
names of many of the active business men in Ellsworth, in 
those days, come to my mind. I am sure I could have had 
next to no personal acquaintance with any of them. There 
was Andrew Peters, who lived in the fine, large house on the 
Bangor road opposite the Congregational Church, and who 
did business in a brick store on the northwest corner of this 
road and the Bucksport road, close to the bridge. His son 
John A., now Chief Justice, (who, also, was not long since, and 
for several terms, a distinguished member of Congress,) was 
one the famous boys of those early days. Of a summer's day in 
passing Mr. Peters' residence on my way to school at the Town 
House, I used to linger and gaze with longing eyes at the wonder- 
ful bounty of apples on the trees in front of his house. I have 
never seen any such apples since. And Dea. Samuel Dut- 
ton, of blessed memory, who raised a large famliy of good 
business men. Likewise Dr. Peck, with his wonderful saddle 
bags filled with medicine of all sorts and marvelous to cure, 
who was to my youthful mind a sort of superhuman being 
in his wonderful possession of power to heal the sick and dis- 
eased. But how shall I call the roll in which appears the 
names of Jordan, Whitaker, McFarland, Jones, Herbert, Blood, 
Tisdale, Tinker, Parcher, Hall, Buckmore, Joy, Whiting, Jar- 
vis, Langdon, Macomber, Hale, Lowell, Hathaway, Grant, 
Warren, Hopkins, Sawyer, Robinson, and many others? I 
would not fail to remember with most sincere affection, Wil- 
liam Jellison, — one of a large family, all good and true, both 
men and women. He married my relative, Miss Julia Tisdale, 
whose acquaintance he made while she was visiting my mother, 
her kinswoman. They lived a short time after their marriage, 
in Ellsworth village, or at the " Bridge," as we called it in 
those clays. Then they moved to " No. 8," on the Bangor road, 
about halfway between Bangor and Ellsworth, and settled on 
a farm in what is now called North Ellsworth. Mr. Jellison 



8 

raised a very large family. His son Charles, a promising- 
young merchant in Portland, was suddenly cut off in his early 
manhood. Also Edward, a young man of great talent, who 
died while in Union College. George, a prosperous business 
man in New York. Zachariah, who was some years a mer- 
chant in Boston, later in Nebraska, and held till recently an im- 
portant office in the New York Custom House. He now re- 
sides in Brooklyn, N. Y. John, who after a good war record, 
died with his armor on; and other sons and two daughters. 
I often visited their farm home, once with my father and 
mother in the early summer of 1839, and alone at later dates. 
Mr. Jellison was possessed of intellectual power of more than 
ordinary grasp, and I never met a man of nobler heart or 
more genuine wit, the kind that runs over with humor and 
delicious fun. 

There comes up before me as I write, a curiously intangible 
vision of an old gentleman carrying a cane and dressed in 
short clothes, wearing a cue and a bountiful white shirt bosom. 
I cannot certainly fix any name to him, and though the vision 
is dim, I am sure that it has a foundation in some personage 
of those early days. Yet I have a shadowy recollection of 
such a name as Major Phillips. Also, it occurs to me that 
there was a wonderful fiddler, one Black George, who was 
always on hand when a dance took place. And, finally, Capt. 
Jesse Dutton, the renowned authority in all martial matters, 
and the hero of all the musters that I heard talked of in those 
times, with their sham fights and what not. 

While I recount these personal reminiscences I am induced 
to repeat what my mother often told me, namely, that when 
she first visited Ellsworth, which was, I think, in 181 2, she 
came from Bucksport, on horseback by a path marked by 
"blazed" trees. During her first summer in the village my 
parents boarded, and the one constant dish on the table was 
salmon. She always used to say in her latter years that she 
ate in those days enough salmon to last her lifetime. My 
parents' house, which during most of their residence in Ells- 
worth was on the east side of what is now Water street, not 



9 

far from the present Main street, was made the home of very 
many of the young relatives on both sides. My parents were 
the practical godfather and godmother of a large number of 
*nieces and nephews, as well as more distant relatives, and 
helped them all along in life with almost parental affection, 
care and solicitude. 

COL. JOHN BLACK. 

Some time prior to my father's settlement in Ellsworth, John 
Black,* a young Englishman, settled there as the deputy agent 
of the Bingham heirs, who owned very extensive tracts of 
land in Hancock and Washington counties, called in common 
phrase "The Bingham Purchase." The acquaintance between 
these two young men ripened into a strong and enduring 
friendship, which lasted uninterrupted till my father's death. 
"Colonel" Black was the name by which he was familiarly 
known, from the fact that, after he became an American citizen,, 
he entered ardently into the militia service, and in due course 
became Lieut. Colonel of the 2d Regiment, 2d Brigade, 10th 
Division. He built, on the Bluehill road, about half a mile 
from the "Bridge," a very large brick house, set at some 
distance back from the road, which he occupied till his death, 
and which is yet standing. I recall with pleasure many visits 
in early youth, and later, at this delightful home. 

He was not only one of the best business men ever known 
in Maine, but he was finely educated and accomplished in the 
elegant attainments peculiar to the higher classes in the land 
of his birth. He was a good draughtsman, and an amateur 
painter of no mean skill. Though not large in stature he was 
very noticable in appearance, and in his personal address he 
was graceful and polite and possessed of most courtly man- 
ners. In all respects he was a noble man and a most excel- 
lent gentleman. His management of the great trusts of the 
Bingham estate was characterized by the strictest diligence 
and fidelity, as well as the most scrupulous honesty. He was 

* See appendix. 



10 

quiet in his mode of life, simple in his tastes, and by tact and 
careful management he accumulated a very large property. 
He married a daughter of Gen. David Cobb, of Gouldsboro, 
Maine, (who came from Taunton, Mass., to act as the agent of 
the " Bingham Purchase,") and reared a numerous family, and 
many of his descendants are now residents of Ellsworth. On 
the death of Gen. Cobb in 1830, he became, as his successsor, 
full agent of the " Bingham Purchase." He died in Ellsworth 
October 25, 1856, at a ripe age, and profoundly regretted not 
only by the citizens of that town, but by a very large circle of 
friends and acquaintances among the best people in Maine 
and Massachusetts. His remains were interred in the family 
tomb on his estate. 

Colonel Black was enabled to throw a good share of legal 
business into Mr. Deane's hands, and in attending to it Mr. 
Deane was called upon to make long expeditions here and 
there through the wild, or very sparsely settled, portions in 
Hancock and adjoining counties. 

By means of his hunting tours and these extended excur- 
sions Mr. Deane acquired a very thorough experience with 
life in the woods, and became most peculiarly well fitted for 
the performance of the public duties which devolved upon him 
later, in connection with the Northeastern Boundary of Maine. 



MR. DEANE S PUBLIC LIFE. 

He was active as a Federalist in politics, and was a repre- 
sentative from Ellsworth to the General Court of Massachu- 
setts, in 1816, '17, '18, and '19, and representative from Ells- 
worth to the Legislature of Maine in 1825, '26, '27, '28, and '31. 

What he did, as well as the value of his services as a Legis- 
lator in the estimate of his associates, may be generally under- 
stood from the following memoranda of the reports he wrote 
while a member of the Legislature of Maine, and the resolves 
passed by that body, viz: 

1827. Report on the Northeastern Boundary question. 



11 

1828. Report upon the Northeastern Boundary question. 
Svo., pp. 55. 

1830. Resolve of the Legislature allowing him $170 for ne- 
gotiating release of land claims with Penobscot Indians. 

1 83 1. Report of committee on State lands, of which he was 
chairman. 8vo., pp. 12. 

1 83 1. Report as chairman of the Committee on the North- 
eastern Boundary, pp. 4. 

1 83 1. Report as chairman of the Committee on the North- 
eastern Boundary, p. 13. 

1 83 1. Resolve granting him half a township of land. 

1 83 1. Letter to Governor Samuel E. Smith about the 
Northeastern Boundary. 

1839. Resolve paying him $465.03 for locating the North- 
eastern Boundary line under resolve of March 23, 1838. 

Most probably, however, this memoranda represents but a 
very small part of the actual work he did while in the Maine 
Legislature. This record indicates how busy he was and the 
kind of work that engaged his attention. 

It should be stated in this connection that the search for my 
father's legislative history has been somewhat difficult because 
the State documents were not printed till 1833, and some of 
the archives were lost in the removal of the public records, 
&c, from Portland to Augusta, when the latter city was made 
the capital. 

By degrees, and from his varied experience in the woods 
and wild portions of the State, as well as from his education 
in public affairs, he had become intensely interested in the 
questions relating to the Northeastern Boundary. Among my 
earliest recollections relating to him and our Ellsworth home, 
are the constant talks between him and his visitors about the 
" disputed territory," " Madawaska," and our public rights to 
the fine lands in the northern part of our State, just above the 
St. John river. From the glowing description of the wonder- 
ful wheat soil up there, and the agricultural possibilities of that 
region, in my childish imagination I used to think it was a very 
"Beulah" land. In his frequent journeys in search of evi- 



12 

dence, or otherwise, to the northern part of the State, officially 
or privately, he accumulated an immense amount of affidavit, 
or other testimony, on points relating to this boundary ques- 
tion. He published articles in many of the newspapers of the 
State embodying his information or views upon this important 
theme. These contributions, over the signatures of "Cato," 
" Ishmael," and "Peter Parley," attracted great attention and 
had a deep influence in educating and directing the public 
mind. I have an autograph letter from Gov. Enoch Lincoln 
to my father, referring to these writings and thanking him for 
what he had done in this way.* I have recently found a por- 
tion of the original drafts of these papers. They are now be- 
ing very carefully edited by a valued friend, f rarely capable in 
such matters, and will in due time be deposited in the archives 
of the Maine Historical Society. His unpublished manu- 
scripts on the subject were very voluminous — at his death 
there were enough to fill a large trunk — all written in his very 
plain and rapid hand. I suppose the family thought that the 
settlement of the national disputes had taken all value from 
these papers, since by degrees, and chiefly by neglect, they 
were lost. In one of his later journeys to the disputed terri- 
tory he cut from a tree, which he said was on the exact north- 
east corner of Maine, (according to his loyal idea,) a stick 
which he had fashioned into a cane, in the ivory head of 
which he had engraved the record whence he obtained it. 
This cane he carried constantly, thereafter, till the day of his 
fatal illness. 

Hon. Israel Washburn, Jr., who was Governor of Maine 
from 1861 to 1863, in his very able article on "The North- 
eastern Boundary," read before the Maine Historical Society, 
at Portland, May 15, 1879, makes frequent and most honor- 
able mention of the public value of Mr. Deane's services in 
connection with that great and important matter.* 

In this same connection I recall with a son's pride the very 
warm and generous remarks made to me in 1846, while I was 
in college, by ex-Governor Robert P. Dunlap, who was then 

* See appendix. f Hon. Joseph Williamson, of Belfast, Maine. 



13 

living in Brunswick. Though he and my father were of oppo- 
site politics, he entertained the most profound respect for the 
ability and energy with which my father had done his work 
for the State in this behalf. Governor Dunlap asked me once 
when I was visiting at his house, if I had ever read my father's 
reports on the subject, and on my answering "no," he took 
them from his library shelves and handed them to me, remark- 
ing that I ought to know all about these matters, thoroughly 
and well, for if ever a son had cause for being proud of his 
father's public services I had. 

I also call to mind what Hon. Nathan Clifford, afterwards 
Justice of the United States Supreme Court, remarked to me 
on this subject in 185 1, soon after he moved to Portland. He 
said that though not of the same political faith as my father, 
he had, as a young member of the Legislature in 1831, cast no 
vote which he remembered with more pleasure than that in 
favor of granting a township of land to my father as a public 
recognition of the value of his services in this great public 
matter. 

HIS LAND BUSINESS REMOVAL TO PORTLAND. 

Late in life Mr. Deane accumulated quite a large property, 
chiefly in timber lands. Nor was he so selfish in his knowl- 
edge of good timber lands as not to advise his friends frankly 
as to his opinion in these matters. His assistance in this be- 
half was once so valuable to Hon. Elijah L. Hamlin, of Ban- 
gor, and Mr. Ruggles, of Machias, that they jointly presented 
him a very handsome and complete service of silver plate. I 
well remember the marvel of its display, when in 1835, the 
package was opened in our Ellsworth home, fresh from the 
store of Jones, Low & Ball, of Boston. This service was more 
than a nine days' wonder in the little village. 

In the fall of 1835 he moved to Portland, and bought the 
property on the south side of State street, between Gray and 
Spring streets, which Mason Greenwood had finely improved. 
This property continued to be the homestead of his family, or 
descendants, till the spring of 1884. 



14 



HIS DECEASE. 



My father was at Cherryfield in the fall of 1839, attending 
to business in connection with his large landed interests, and 
becoming ill early in November, was treated with such suc- 
cess that he was supposed to be recovering. By some acci- 
dent the nurse gave him by mistake tartar emetic instead of 
cream tartar. When the mistake was discovered, all possible 
remedies were tried but to no purpose. He was sick at the 
residence of J. Tilden Moulton, who married my cousin, Ann 
P. Cook, (she had been raised in our family,) and died there 
November 10, ^839. 

THE VALUE OF HIS PUBLIC SERVICES IN CONNECTION WITH THE 
NORTHEASTERN BOUNDARY. 

When we read, in these latter days, the history of the bound- 
aries of Maine, there is much to marvel at and much to excite 
our ire. In the conscious strength of our national power of 
to-day, we are apt to forget that once the Nation was weak, 
and, in comparison with Great Britain, quite insignificant — 
having no rights that the said haughty nation was bound to 
have any sort of respect for. 

The boundaries of Maine contiguous to the British Prov- 
inces seem to be so clearly stated in article second of the 
Treaty of Peace concluded at Paris, between Great Britain and 
the United States, in 1783, that it now appears very strange 
that any dispute ever arose about them. The northerly line 
is thus described: 

" From the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, to wit : that 
angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the 
source of the St. Croix River to the highlands, along the said 
highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves 
into the St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic 
Ocean, to the Northwesternmost head of Connecticut River." 

The Eastern line is described thus: " East, by a line drawn 
alone*; the middle of the river St. Croix from its mouth in the 



15 

Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north 
to the aforesaid highlands which divide the waters that fall into 
the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into the river St. 
Lawrence, comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of 
any part of the United States, and lying between the lines to 
be drawn due East from the points where the aforesaid bound- 
aries between Nova Scotia, on the one part, and East Florida 
on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and 
the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are, or here- 
tofore have been, within the limit of the said Province of Nova 
Scotia." 

In regard to the Eastern line it seems to have been proven 
beyond any reasonable doubt that there were three rivers which 
had been in turns, or interchangeably, called the "St. Croix," 
viz: the Magaquadavic, easterly; the Schoodic, (present St. 
Croix,) middle ; and the Cobscook, westerly; and that the true 
St. Croix of the treaty of 1783, was the Magaquadavic. But 
the superior finesse of the British on the "St. Croix commis- 
sion," in 1798, succeeded in causing the Schoodic to be per- 
manently called the St. Croix, — and thus our State at that time, 
by the decision of this commission, lost on the East a tract of 
land nearly two hundred miles long by about thirty broad. 

It was the evident determination of the English in some way 
to get land enough from the Eastern and Northern sides of 
Maine to afford ample room for all desired or necessary com- 
munication between the Canadas and New Brunswick and Nova 
Scotia. After they had sliced off so large a piece from the 
Eastern part of the State, then their whole force was redoubled 
to gain all that part of our State above a line drawn West from 
Mars Hill ! If this had been accomplished the size of the 
State would have been very seriously reduced. The outrage 
of these claims will almost be obvious by a glance at any map 
in view of the above extracts from the treaty. 

I have endeavored to picture these facts of our great losses 
of territory, North as well as East, in the accompanying map, 
where are shown the treaty lines of 1783, in which the red 
line indicates the original Eastern, North and Northwesterly 



16 

boundaries; the yellow line across the State and down the 
Eastern side represents the one claimed by the British, some 
considerable time after the Treaty of 1783, as the Northern 
line of the State, not always confidently, but with increasingly 
loud protestations after the dispute over the boundary ques- 
tion had waxed warm; the present Eastern and Northern 
boundary lines are indicated in full bla^R lines and by the St. 
John River. It will be seen at a glance how great and valu- 
able is the territory which we lost in 1798 and 1842. 

This present Northern boundary was the result of the Ash- 
burton Treaty of 1842. The rule devised by the exalted 
statesmanship of that treaty seems to have been to split the 
differences between the claims of the two parties. But it is 
not necessary here to go into any details, since, in the afore- 
said monograph, by Hon. Israel Washburn, Jr., all these mat- 
ters are set out with careful detail. It answers all my present 
purposes to show what my father was contending for, viz: the 
territory between the St. John River and the highlands of the 
treaty of 1783, and the great public value of the interests con- 
cerned. These mark his devotion to this cause as the charac- 
teristic of a large minded and most public spirited man. The 
people of the State of Maine do, I am sure, now fully approve 
what is sometimes called Gov. John Fairfield's declaration of 
war in 1838, when he ordered out the State militia to defend 
our territory, as we then claimed it. It is not necessary now 
to enlarge on all this. It is an historical fact which the peo- 
ple of Maine take pride in. 

But I should have dwelt more at length upon the character 
and value of my father's public services in connection with 
this Northeastern Boundary question, if the matter had not 
many years ago been treated of very kindly, justly, fully, and 
ably, as will appear from the following excellent and feeling 
tribute to his memory which was written in 1839, by Hon. 
Charles S. Davies, LL. D., of Portland, then one of the first 
lawyers at the Cumberland bar, and in the full prime of a 
splendid reputation both in his public and private capacities. 
Mr. Davies had been repeatedly called upon to act a very dis- 



17 

tinguished public part in connection with this very North- 
eastern Boundary question, and was thoroughly acquainted 
with all the men who had had any connection great or small 
in this very important matter. He knew well to whom praise 
belonged. He had been long intimately associated with Mr. 
Deane in matters pertaining to the Northeastern Boundary 
question ; had known him as a legislator, a lawyer, a man of 
business and affairs. He wrote generously, and with a full ac- 
quaintance of everything pertaining to the subject. 

The article appeared in the Portland Advertiser Tuesday 
evening, November 19, 1839, and is as follows: 

"OBITUARY NOTICE OF JOHN G. DEANE. 

"On Saturday afternoon were committed to the grave the 
remains of John G. Deane. They had been removed from 
Narraguagus, (Cherryfield,) where he expired on Sunday, the 
1 Oth inst, and were conveyed from his late residence in State 
street to the South Burying Ground* in this city, attended by 
his family and friends. The deep domestic sorrow was ac- 
companied by a most sincere attestation of sympathy and re- 
spect. 

"The decease of Mr. Deane, indeed, thus suddenly occur- 
ring in the prime of life, upon an occasional absence from 
home, is not only a severe private loss, but it is also a great 
public one. To estimate it properly, it is necessary to refer to 
the memorial of the past, which he has raised for himself by 
his talents and services, inscribed as well upon the tablet of 
his social and professional relations, as upon the large, labori- 
ous and faithful record of the duties which he has performed 
to the public. 

" If there was any among us who had a right to stand up and 
say, ' I have done the State some service, and they know it,' 
this was a persuasion of which Mr. Deane may have been 
justly and honestly conscious; and so marked and prominent 
an object of consideration and esteem has he been, now for a 

*0n Bramhall's Hill. 



18 

long space of time, in the view of the people of Maine, that it 
needs only to pronounce his name, at this moment of unex- 
pected and melancholy bereavement to those who cherish his 
memory, to present at once a living and expressive image of 
his person, character and virtues. Who in this land did not 
know John G. Deane, and who, knowing him, would be likely 
soon to forget him, or be willing to suffer his honest fame to 
pass into silent oblivion ? A few faint traces from recollection 
and from the slight materials at hand, are all that is proposed 
in this scanty and hasty notice to furnish. 

" John G. Deane was a native of the Bay State of Massachu- 
setts, and was a descendant, it is stated, of John Dean, who 
early came to that old colony from England, and settled at 
Taunton, the stock, it is supposed, of those that bear that nu- 
merous name in New England and who have reflected no dis- 
honor on the fair inheritance of their Pilgrim ancestors. He 
was himself born in Raynham, and was a graduate of Brown 
University, in Rhode Island, about the year 1806, and studied 
law, it is understood, with the late Judge Seth Padelford, one 
of whose daughters he afterwards married. He commenced 
the practice of law at Ellsworth, in this State, which he pur- 
sued with credit and success, and where he established not 
only the solid reputation of a learned, sound, and discriminat- 
ing lawyer, but enjoyed, also, in an eminent degree, the gen- 
eral confidence of his clients and fellow citizens. This latter 
portion of public favor he shared with his friend George Her- 
bert, a most amiable and worthy brother of the profession, 
whose fine taste, elegant accomplishments and exquisite sensi- 
bility, will long be preserved in remembrance by those who 
had the pleasure and privilege of his personal acquaintance. 
Ellsworth being entitled to but one representative in the Leg- 
islature of Massachusetts, Mr. Deane was chosen alternately 
with Mr. Herbert for several years, and was a member of that 
body, it is believed, as early as 181 3. He was marked as a 
man of talent, spirit and application. 

"Mr. Deane's location in the Eastern part of the State, and 
the course of his professional business led him to an increas- 



19 

ing acquaintance with the proprietary lands in this State, large 
tracts of which were lying in grants from the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts, the principal of which were the Bingham 
Purchases. It was this that probably first turned his attention 
toward that subject, which afterwards engaged so large a por- 
tion of it, in one very important direction. After the separa- 
tion of Maine, Mr. Deane became again a member of the Leg- 
islature while it sat in Portland, where he began to be widely 
known and his value equally understood. He did not make 
that his place of residence, however, till 1835. 

"It was here, during the sessions of 1827 and 1828, at the 
period when such a vigorous impulse was given to the vital in- 
terests of this State by the measures adopted by Governor 
Lincoln in relation to our territorial rights, that Mr. Deane 
distinguished himself by the active and leading part he took, 
and the persevering study and unwearied diligence he be- 
stowed in regard to the perplexed and protracted question of 
our Northeastern Boundary. 

" It was the intrinsic justice as well as the strict and perfect 
legal character of this right on our behalf that first recom- 
mended itself to the native integrity, while it presented itself 
also in the clearest light to the discriminating sagacity of his 
mind, and inspired that honest zeal which gave such a con- 
centrated energy to all his powers and faculties in this single 
cause. It was this that urged him to spare no pains, to relax 
no effort, to lose no opportunity, of promoting that great end 
in which he then and thenceforward entirely and almost exclu- 
sively devoted himself. He shunned no labor, and thought 
no day long in which he could do anything to advance it. Of 
this all-absorbing and to him engrossing subject, it may be 
truly said, that he summered and wintered it. He ate, drank, 
and slept it. It was his thought by day and his dream by 
night, and the first idea to which he awakened again in the 
morning. On this point he was instant in season and out of 
season. He was ever ready and alert on every occasion which 
presented, and prompt for every service which the interest of 
the State demanded. At every turn and crisis of the question, 






20 

when it was first put in the shape of a Convention and about 
to be submitted to an Arbiter, or swamped by his preposter- 
ous award — when our citizens were, one after another, seized 
and consigned to foreign prisons, and the ensigns of an alien 
and intrusive jurisdiction were planted on our independent 
soil — and the soverign power of self-protection, which this 
political community was bound to exercise for those who put 
their trust in it, insultingly set at defiance — then it was that 
his spirit rose with every emergency; it quailed at no peril or 
trial to the virtue of the question, and sunk only with any 
declension of its interest, of which there were spells and symp- 
toms in the public mind. It was only, at those intervals of 
repose to this exciting question during which it has been so 
strangely and inexplicably adjourned, that the ordinary inter- 
ests and occupations of life resumed with him any actual 
measure of their importance and influence. Never, it may be 
nearly said, did they regain their real ascendancy. Still the 
invincible energy of his spirit on that predominating subject 
was not to be subdued or broken down. No clanger appalled, 
nor difficulty disheartened him. With an industry that noth- 
ing could either tire or escape; with a memory faithful to 
every circumstance that it ever seized, with an instinct sure as 
the magnet, and a soul as true as steel to the cause in which 
he was embarked, this was the master subject of his mind. 

It was his ruling passion. When he once got upon this 
theme " his foot was on his native heath and his name was 
McGregor! " It is no injustice to say that he probably mas- 
tered more of its details, historical, statistical and geographical, 
connected together, than any other individual, and that he had 
written, spoken, and printed, it might almost be said not only 
more than any other person — but more than all others put 
together. No one engaged in the various calls of this ques- 
tion had looked into it more thoroughly, or was more inti- 
mately and profoundly acquainted with all its bearings. If 
there is any over allowance of the measure of merit and praise 
that may possibly be accorded to him on this head, it can be 
hardly more than is due his unbounded and indefatigable de- 



21 

votions to this supreme object which ended only with his 
breath. 

Mr. Deane's first reports on this subject, which brought the 
matter most distinctly into public view were made, as already 
adverted to, in 1827 and 1828. In 1830 he made a tour of 
observation over the ground of controversy by order of the 
Government, in immediate connection with Judge Preble. In 
1 83 1 and 1832 he again became conspicuous for the part he 
took in incorporating the precinct of Madawaska, and resist- 
ing the no doubt well intended but idle and absurd* arbitra- 
ment of the King of the Netherlands. It was on this account 
and at this period that the legislature made Mr. Deane a grant 
of a half township of land on the upper waters of the St. 
John, as a testimonial (it is believed unanimous,) of the grate- 
ful sense entertained of his services. This grant has probably, 
however, been unproductive, to say the least, owing to the 
distance of the spot, and the unsettled state of the question. 
Perhaps it was the design that Mr. Deane, who had been its 
champion, should be set there as a pioneer. At all events, 
the grant and the post should be made good. In 1838, when 
the Resolves of the Legislature for an ascertainment and sur- 
vey of the northeastern boundary of the State were required 
to be carried into execution by Governor Edward Kent, Mr. 
Deane was the person at once designated by him, as most 
peculiarly fitted for the performance of that important duty. 
How zealously and faithfully he entered upon the service as- 
signed to him, striking out and pursuing his own route, under 
the general directions he had received, leaving nothing unex- 
plored which lay within his reach, and not quitting the ground 
until it was covered with snow too deep to proceed in the 
search, and the face of the earth was obscured from further 
investigation, his recent report on the subject fully demon- 
strates. In this expedition he was seconded by two worthy 
and useful associates whose assistance was valuable and who 
justly share in the credit of the undertaking. The new map 
of the territory which he prepared from this survey and the 

* This line was, however, the one adopted a few years later. 



22 

former materials at his command, was a work upon which he 
bestowed great pains and expense ; and it may be feared that 
the author of it died with a feeling, that his task in this report 
had not been duly appreciated and the service properly con- 
sidered. It is still to be hoped that this important labor will 
not fail to be suitably estimated. 

No man, it may be said, was ever more inflexibly tenacious 
of his own just purposes, and at the same time more truly re- 
gardful of the invariable principles of right, and of whatever 
was due to the proper claims of others, whether few or many. 
He was simple in his tastes, undisguised in his intentions, plain 
and transparent in all his aims, unostentatious, and even neg- 
ligent in regard to some of the forms and observances of soci- 
ety. Like Governor Enoch Lincoln, he loved to feel himself 
in the sublime, ennobling presence of nature, and to pierce 
the vast, profound, unpeopled solitudes of the forest. He 
liked also to meet the remnant of the ancient race of proprie- 
tors in their native woods, or on the streams which they navi- 
gated in their bark canoes — and to associate and hold converse 
with the hardy cultivators of the soil — although these genuine 
sympathies did not estrange him from the more busy social 
haunts of men. 

The cast of his countenance was remarkably intellectual and 
indicative of acuteness, foresight and sagacity. It had also 
something of a more grave, reflective and resolved character. 
The upper part of his face, particularly the intersection of the 
principal features bore a striking resemblance to the bust of 
Alexander Hamilton, while the perpetual activity of its fibres 
in their animated expression, might remind one who had seen 
the original of the incessant motion of Lord Brougham's. He 
had also something in him of antiquity, something of the Cod- 
rus and the Curtius — some strain of that Roman spirit of self- 
sacrificing patriotism which tells in the stories of Horatius 
Codes and Mucius Scsevola — some vein too of the Russells 
and Sidneys of the seventeenth century — spirits prepared for 
all the emergencies of moral, political and physical martyr- 
dom — for the ordeals of a virtue that had not ceased to be 



23 

more than an empty sound — and aspiring to an elevation supe- 
rior to the sordid subterfuges of shuffling selfishness and com- 
promising expediency. This was an aspiration worthy of the 
object of this obituary; and there was that within him which 
did not derogate from this lofty calling. That he did not live 
to see the end of all his travail is most certain. 

But he lived long enough to see the cause for which he had 
labored adopted by the unanimous voice of the Congress of 
the United States, and its justice and purity acknowledged by 
the world. And it is no less certain that if he does not de- 
serve a marble monument from the people of Maine, he de- 
serves a monument as durable as marble in their undying re- 
membrance, affection and respect. 

In the multitude of emotions that throng and mingle in the 
mind which this sudden stroke of providence is calculated to 
call forth — amid these last dying traces of autumnal change, 
when the splendid month of November is speaking the great 
moral lesson of the year — if there was nothing else in this 
world — if there was not something infinitely superior to all the 
visible manifestations of the material universe and above all 
that this glorious organic structure is capable to afford — we 
might well mourn over these melancholy vestiges of mortality 
and decay. If it were not otherwise, were it not for higher 
hopes and the interior supports of a sublimer faith, by which 
the spirit is sustained in its far upward flight, through its sink- 
ing moments of occasional despondency, it would be sad in- 
deed to linger upon the last lineaments of the departed object 
of our affection and esteem, the features so lately beaming with 
animation and intelligence, the head so lately full of important 
knowledge, and fervid with the glowing operations of genius 
and intellect ; the heart just beating with the most ardent pul- 
sations of parental love and patriotic zeal, now silent and in- 
sensible, about to be reduced to the cold clods of the valley. 
Yet there is still something in the circumstances of this mourn- 
ful public and domestic deprivation to produce a deep, a last- 
ing and wholesome impression. 



24 

" The memory 
Of our dying friends comes o'er us like a cloud, 

To damp our brainless ardor, and abate 
That glare of life that often blinds the wise." 

HIS FAMILY. 

*Mrs. Deane survived her husband and resided at the home- 
stead on State street, Portland, (with the exception of about a 
year, 1869-70, spent with her sons Llewellyn and William, in 
Washington, D. C.,) till the day of her death, May 12, 1872. 
Her remains were interred by the side of her husband, in the 
Cemetery on Bramhall's Hill in Portland. They were the parents 
of eleven children — two died in infancy, two daughters when 
comparatively young; John was lost at sea in 1836 while on a 
voyage, as supercargo of his brig, to South America. Six 
sons survived him, all of whom grew up to men's estate. 

Joseph became a lawyer, lived awhile in Cherryfield, look- 
ing after the landed interests of his father's estate ; then prac- 
ticed law in Taunton, and later in Quincy, 111., where he died 
in July, 1869. 

Melvin was a civil engineer. In his youth he accompanied 
his father, in 1838, on his last excursion to the Northeastern 
part of the State. He was engaged in the construction of 
several railroads, the At. & St. L., the And. & Ken. and others. 
He was City Engineer of Portland in 1853-4, an d died there 
in March, 1854. 

Henry graduated at " Bowdoin," in 1844, and became a law- 
yer, represented Portland in the Legislature of 1850-2, was 
county attorney for Cumberland County, 1852-2, and later was 
solicitor for the city of Portland, and afterwards surveyor, 
1868-70, in the Custom House. He died in Boston, March, 
1873, on his way home from Florida. f 

Frederick graduated at "Bowdoin," in 1846, and became a 
lawyer, but never entered on the practice, as the gold excite- 
ment of those days bore him away to California, where he 
lived, with the interval of a short visit home, till 1861, when 

* See appendix. f See in appendix. Resolutions, &c, by Cumberland Bar. 



25 

he entered the volunteer service and was an officer of the first 
California Volunteers. At a later period he was in the 30th 
Maine Regiment; after some service he was duly commis- 
sioned an officer, but the war closed before he was mustered 
in. He died at sea in March, 1867, while returning to Cali- 
fornia. 

Llewellyn graduated at "Bowdoin," in 1849, became a law- 
yer and practiced, in partnership with Henry, in Portland from 
1852 to 1 86 1. In 1858 he represented Portland to the Legis- 
lature. In 1 861 he moved to Washington, where he subse- 
quently held an important position in the Patent Office. In 
1873 he resigned his official position and has since practiced 
law in that city. 

William Wallace became a lawyer and settled in Saccarappa. 
In 1 86 1 he joined the 12th Maine Infantry and afterwards 
became Adjutant of the Regiment. In 1863 he was appointed 
Assistant Adjutant General of Volunteers, with rank of Cap- 
tain, and at the close of the war was breveted Lieutenant Col- 
onel in that branch of the service. In 1 867 he was appointed 
Lieutenant in the regular army. He died in July, 1870, in 
Washington, D. C. 

Melvin's son John, while a mere lad, enlisted in the 6th 
Maine Battery, and later became Lieutenant thereof. He was 
in active service from the date of his enlistment, in 1862, to 
the close of the war, and was never hurt in battle, though in 
every fight where his Battery was engaged, and was never in 
hospital during his entire service. He engaged in the paper 
manufacturing business after the war, and died in the fall of 
1873. No doubt the toil, duties and excitement of his war life 
hastened his end. 

Washington, D. C, October 13, 1884. 



The foregoing was prepared for the Maine State Historical Society, and was 
read at the meeting of said Society January 8, 18S5, by Gen. John Marshall Brown. 

It is now copied from the records of said Society, and, with their permission, a 
few changes and additions have been made. 



APPENDIX. 



29 



This touching and beautiful tribute to the memory of my 
mother was written just after her death by Rev. J. E. Rankin, 
D. D., now of Orange Valley, N. J., but who, during her resi- 
dence in Washington, D. C, was pastor of the First Congre- 
gational Church in that city, and greatly beloved by her, not 
only as her minister, but because of his unfailing and most 
affectionate attentions to her. It was printed in the Conqrega- 
tionalist May 30, 1872. 

A BEAUTIFUL OLD LADY. 

There are two classes toward whom my heart is irresistibly 
drawn : little children and old people. Their common frailty, 
their simplicity, their appreciation of little attentions, the rela- 
tions of confidence which they are so ready to form, their 
fidelity of affection, all combine to make one love them with a 
kind of abandon in other cases impossible. And so when I 
found among my people here, an old lady with gray curls and 
blooming cheeks, the bloom of maturity, of a green old age, 
cared for so tenderly by a son who was with her like a shadow ; 
when she remained after each service to give me her benedic- 
tion, and to show how she rolled the truth as a sweet morsel 
in her mouth, of course I could not help loving her, and being 
thankful that God was giving me the privilege of ministering 
to her in her last days. For she seemed like one who would 

" Ne'er be fu' content, till her een did see, 

The golden gates 'o heaven, and her ain countree." 

She was with us one year, delighting us all, loved by us all, 
and then she returned to Portland, Me., where, for so many 
years she had been so useful and so honored, in connection 
with the High Street Church. There, as a widow, having also 
buried five children, she had brought up the remaining six; 



30 



she had been the foster-mother to nephews and nieces ; she 
had been at the head of benevolent societies, her home the 
hospitable center for ministers and missionaries; her heart and 
her purse always open ; her hand ready for every good work. 
And there, in Portland, in the household of her eldest surviv- 
ing son, she fell asleep in Jesus, May 12th, 1872. 

This beautiful old lady was Mrs. Rebecca D. Deane, the 
youngest daughter of Hon. Seth Padelford, LL. D., of Taun- 
ton, Mass., and was born there, May 27, 1792. She married 
John G. Deane, Esq., of Ellsworth, Me., in 1810, and lived 
in that place until 1835, when she removed to Portland. 
Two years later she joined the High Street Church. Her 
husband was a Unitarian, but she threw her decided influence 
in favor of the doctrines of evangelical religion, of which, 
some of her children, also, have proved themselves self-deny- 
ing and enthusastic advocates. She felt very much the failing 
of her natural powers, and the change in her social position 
which was the result of her advancing years. Slowly faded 
from her memory recollections of the past, even of husband 
and children, but her last thoughts and expressions were of 
Jesus and Heaven, and, at length, released from the burdens 
and frailties of the flesh, she went to see 

"The King in his beauty in her ain countree." 



31 



MEMORANDA FROM FAMILY BIBLES AND 
OTHER SOURCES. 



THE DEANE SIDE. 

Family of Joseph Deane, of Raynham, Massachusetts, fifth 
in descent from John Deane, who came from England, and, 
with his brother Walter, was one of the pioneer settlers of 
Taunton, Massachusetts. 

Joseph Deane was born in Raynham, November 20, 
1753, and died February 16, 1837. 
He married January 10, 1783, Mary, daughter of Capt. John 
Gilmore, born May 18, 1760, and died May 10, 1837, a few 
months after her husband's death. 

Their children, all born in Raynham, Mass., were — 

John Gilmore, born March 27, 1785 ; died in Cherry- 
field, Maine, November 10, 1839. 
Mary, born September 25, 1790; died August 10, 
1 820; married Abiezer Dean, of Taunton, Mass., 
leaving two children, Joseph Albert and Elizabeth 
Hall. 
Joseph Augustus, born June 25, 1802; died in Ells- 
worth, Maine, May 4, 1873; married Eliza, daugh- 
ter of Colonel Nathaniel Fales, of Taunton, August 
17, 1830; they had three children. Mary Agnes, 
died October 6, 1862 ; Sabra W., (now Mrs. Amory 
Otis,) and John G., died June 17, 1 841. 



32 



THE PADELFORD SIDE. 

Children of Seth Padelford and Rebecca, his wife, all 
born in Taunton, Mass. 

Seth Padelford, of Taunton, Mass., born December 7, 
1751; died January 3, 1810; married June 1, 1777, to 
Rebecca Dennis, who was born December 8, 1756, and 
died March 16, 1822. 
Their children were — 

Polly Dennis, born April 13, 1778; married Mason 

Shaw, of Bangor, Maine; died May 19, 1805. 
Ezekiel D.,born September 23, 1779; died October 27, 

1779. 
Sally Kirby, born October 27, 1780; married Na- 
thaniel Fales, of Taunton, Mass.; died at Quincy, 
Ills., November 26, 1858. 
Melinda, born February 14, 1782 ; married Enoch 
Brown, of Hampden, Mass.; died January 23, 1836. 
John, born May 1, 1783; died June 29, 1801. 
Charles, born January 12, 1785; died February 21, 

1785. 
Nancy, born March 14, 1786; married Samuel E. 

Cooke, of Tiverton, R. I.; died October 21, 1817. 
Harry, born September 29, 1787; married Susan 
Crosman, of Taunton, Mass. ; died in New York 
about 1850. 
Rebecca, born 1789; died 1791. 
Rebecca Dennis who married John G. Deane, and 

is fully spoken of elsewhere in this sketch. 
Caroline, born 1794; died 1796. 
Francis, born 1796; died 1798. 



33 



OUR OWN FAMILY. 



Children of John G. Deane and Rebecca, his wife, all born 
in Ellsworth, Maine : 

Seth Padelford, born August 3, 1814; died August 21 
1814. 

John, born November 14, 181 5 ; lost at sea November, 
1836. 

Joseph P., born September 29, 181 7; died at Quincy Ills., 
August 19, 1869 ; married Eleanor S. Reed, of Taunton, 
Mass., January 27, 1842. 

Mary, born October 8, 1818; died at Portland, May 14, 
1839. 

Rebecca Padelford, born March 31, 1820; died at Ells- 
worth, August 7, 1833. 

Melvin Gilmore, born November 16, 1821 ; died at Port- 
land, March 21, 1854; married Sarah E. Shepherd, of 
Bristol, R. I., August 9, 1843, who died May 18, 1847 ; 
and Harriet A. Thurston, of Winthrop, Maine, October 
12, 1848. 

Henry Padelford, born October 9, 1823; died at the 
Revere House, Boston, en route from Florida to Portland, 
March 25, 1873 ; married Annie E. Morse, of Brunswick, 
Maine, March 23, 1848. 

Frederick Augustus, born September 17, 1825; died at 
sea, on ship "Majestic," en route to California, March 16, 
1867. 
Llewellyn, born September 17, 1827, died March, 1828. 
Llewellyn, born April 23, 1829 ; married Mrs. L. E. Ricks, 

of Washington, D. C, August 29, 1871. 
William Wallace, born August 2, 1832; died at Wash- 
ington, D. C, July 21, 1870;. married Abbie Edwards, 
of Saccarappa, Maine, May 14, 1868. 



34 



MY GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER 
DEANE. 

I am greatly indebted to my venerable friend, J. W. D. Hall, 
of Taunton, Mass., for the following sketch of my paternal 
grandfather : 

Lieut. Joseph Deane acquired his title by honorable service 
in the Revolutionary war. He left his farm work and re- 
sponded to the " alarm call" preceding the battle of Bunker's 
Hill, a young man of twenty-three, as member of the company 
which marched all night from Taunton to Boston, but arrived 
too late to join in that engagement. Lieut. Deane was also a 
member of one of the two Raynham companies, the only ones 
that promptly responded in 1786 to the call caused by the 
rumor that Shay's Volunteers were coming to Taunton to 
frighten * Gen. (then Judge) Cobb, and seize the court papers. 
He was familiarly known in the Raynham days of my boy- 
hood as " Uncle Joseph." He was a cousin of my grandfather, 
Nathaniel Deane, and resided only a fourth of a mile distant 
from him. Hundreds of times have I been over the grounds 
of that old mansion of Uncle Jo's. There stood the large, old- 
fashioned gambrel roofed house, having two front doors, one 
" for company," and facing the south. The garden on the 
west, or sunny side, was one of the handsomest, laid out on a 
side hill, in terraces, and descending twenty feet from the upper 
level to the lower tier, where an immense grape vine spread 
its branches almost entirely over two large apple trees. A few 
rods below was a meadow with a running brook; this afforded a 
convenient watering place on the road nearby, and which sepa- 
rated the town of Raynham from Taunton. It was one of 
the most attractive garden spots in North Raynham ; choice 
roses and an abundance of flowers were cultivated there by 
Mrs. Deane. A spacious grass plat, with walks, lay in front 

*The same Gen. David Cobb who afterwards settled at Gouldsborough, Maine.— See page 61 . 



35 

of the house, and on the east was a large wood house, and 
near the old cider mill, where neighbors resorted with their 
cart loads of apples to convert into cider, at free cost, and be- 
yond this the mill, the corn crib, and two large barns for the 
stock. The old orchard in rear of the cider mill bore the best 
of apples, and we boys were always welcomed by " Uncle 
Joseph" to help ourselves. In fact, he was pleased to have us 
eat the fine fruit that covered the ground beneath those large 
trees. 

But as I pass that way in recent years, I can hardly repress 
tears of sadness, as I witness the utter desolation that marks 
the spot so pleasing to my eyes seventy years ago. Scarcely 
a landmark remains. The house and a portion of the build- 
ings were destroyed by fire forty years ago ; the remaining 
out-buildings were soon after removed, and that elegant ter- 
raced garden has given place to a waste of weeds and grass, 
the splendid rose bushes having " run wild to decay." 

Had your father remained at that nice old home, we should 
not have read any of his enterprising feats in the " District of 
Maine," which he helped to make a State in 1820, and his able 
reports on " the Northeastern Boundary." Still, he might have 
emigrated to Taunton, and achieved fame by a seat on the 
bench, which his judicial ability would have enabled him to 
fill with honor. 

Aside from the fact that " Uncle Joseph" served his country 
faithfully in the Revolutionary struggle " for liberty and union," 
and was a careful, painstaking farmer, and was loved and re- 
spected by all his neighbors and townsmen, I know but little 
to write. A farmer's life is rather monotonous and common- 
place. His wife, "Aunt Polly," as we called her, was a very 
intelligent woman, who possessed fine conversational powers, 
and, like her husband, was much beloved. Their only daughter, 
Mary, who married my uncle, Abiezer Deane, and resided in 
Taunton until her death, August 10, 1820, was very like her 
mother in her amiable and beautiful character and life. 

Uncle Joseph's brother Clifford was also a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, and was killed in the prime of life at the 



36 

taking of New York by the British in 1776. He had also a 
brother David, a farmer, who resided in Taunton, a third of a 
mile distant, a very worthy, quiet man. He also had five sis- 
ters ; one married a Williams, one a Carver, another a Jones, 
and another Major John Gilmore, one of the most prominent 
men in Raynham, for whom your father was named ; and still 
another single sister, Charity. 

Your grandparents were a most worthy old couple, and now, 
though approaching my four-score milestone, my boyhood 
memories of them and theirs are fresh and vivid as ever. My 
grandfather's homestead, where I resided after the death of 
my father, from the age of four to fifteen, joined the former, 
and, as I muse upon the early impressions of those days, the 
familiar scenes come thronging into my mind as cheering rem- 
iniscences ; and while there is a sadness that those who min- 
gled in them have all passed away, we may cheerish the hope 
of meetino- them again. 



The following, also, relating to my grandparents, I copy 
from full and most valuable family data left by my uncle Jos- 
eph A. Deane, of Ellsworth, Maine, and kindly sent me by his 
daughter, Mrs. Sabra W. D. Otis. 

My parents resided in North Raynham, about three rods 
from the Taunton line. My father owned three farms, which 
are now crossed by the old Colony Railroad ; it crosses his 
homestead about 100 rods east of where his house, which was 
built in 1840, formerly stood. My father was an honest and 
upright farmer. I do not believe that he ever defrauded man, 
woman or child, of the value of a farthing in his long life. It 
was a saying in the neighborhood, "as honest as Uncle Jo." 
He was not rich, but what farmers call " well off;" he had 
plenty of land, plenty of cattle, and all that he desired, and 
several thousand of dollars at interest ; he allowed all the 
poor men in the country round to get in debt to him, some of 
them to the extent of fifties, and some of them as much as 



37 

hundreds, without pay. He never drummed hard, and never 
forced anyone to pay. He never held or sought office; but, 
on the other hand, refused to accept office when solicited. He 
was repeatedly chosen a selectman of the town, and once rep- 
resentative to the legislature, but could not be persuaded by 
his many friends to accept either office. 

He entered the revolutionary army immediately after the 
fight at Concord and Lexington, first under Capt. Noah Hall, 
of Raynham, afterwards of Gouldsborough, Maine. His first 
service was two months at Dorchester Heights, afterwards, as 
a regular, several years in the Continental army. When a 
pension was granted by Congress to the poor soldiers my father 
did not apply for one. After 1832, when poverty was not re- 
quisite to entitle a soldier to a pension, his name was placed 
upon the pension rolls, and so continued until his death. He 
was killed by a fall on the ice February 16th, 1837. He had 
been in feeble health during the winter, and in fact several 
years. On that day, in the afternoon, he fell, was carried to 
the house and placed upon his bed. He soon fell asleep, and 
died without a struggle or any distress, and in his eighty-third 
year. 

My mother, Mary Gilmore, was an active and energetic 
woman, her life was prolonged for many years by her energy 
and activity; she was as honest and just as my father; she 
was generous, yet without her my father would have been 
possessed of less property than he acquired. They commenced 
housekeeping at the close of the Revolution, when everybody 
had learned to economize. Nothing was wasted in her house, 
but all were fed, and well fed. The table was ever free to all. 
They always agreed perfectly ; I never heard an angry word 
pass between them ; they were ever of one mind and in accord 
in all things. My mother was not robust, the dread disease, 
consumption, was long lingering in her system, even before 
my birth. Almost every year she had such attacks that our 
neighbors would despair of her recovery, but soon as she 
gained strength she was up, and her energy made her appear 
as if well, and so she lived along until my father was gone, 



38 

and about eleven weeks after his death, on the very eve of her 
decease, she drove her carriage alone seven miles after sunset, 
and died in less than three hours after she entered the house. 
Had she yielded to her disease and given up, as many do, she 
would have been in her grave many years earlier. She was 
strictly and conscientiously honest and just, resolute and per- 
severing, and a very strong-minded woman. 

Neither of my parents ever made a profession of religion or 
joined the church, but they both were constant in their attend- 
ance at meetings, and I feel that I had rather take their chance 
for happiness hereafter than that of thousands upon thousands 
of professed Christians. 

The following obituary notice of my grandfather appeared, 
I think, in a Taunton paper : 

" DIED. 

" In Raynham, on the 16th inst., Mr. Joseph Deane, in the 
83d year of his age. Few men have lived so long a life so 
well. He was an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile. 
Though from anxious solicitude to do right he postponed, till 
late in life, a public profession of his faith in Christ ; yet from 
the early dawn of his reason he lived the life of a Christian. 
So pacific, correct and uniform were his spirit and manners 
that no one could or did say aught against him. The nearest 
inmate of his house could say that even there he was never seen 
to be fretful or angry. Fair in all his contracts, and punctual 
in his promises, he ever sustained the honor of an honest man. 
He cheerfully gave a portion of his income for the support of 
the ministry; and the house of God, when his health permitted, 
was his natural home on the Sabbath. Long was he tried 
with a most painful disorder, but pain it seemed, could not 
disturb the serenity of his mind. As he lived so he died, in 
perfect resignation and calmness. ' Blessed are the dead who 
die in the Lord.' " 



39 

The following about my father appears in my Uncle's 
notes : 

John G. Deane, Esq., was an eminent lawyer at Ellsworth, 
Maine, for many years. He subsequently entered into land 
speculations and became very rich, on paper ; he was a promi- 
nent agitator of the North Eastern Boundary question, and 
wrote many articles on the subject. He died suddenly at 
Cherryfield, November 10, A. D. 1839, in the 55th year of his 
age ; his death was caused by an over dose of tartar-emetic, 
taken by mistake for cream of tartar with which it was mixed. 
He resided in Portland, on State street, several years before 
his death. His remains were carried to Portland, and deposited 
in the South Cemetery, where the remains of his daughter 
Mary were deposited the year previous. 

He possessed a strong mind, a great memory and sound 
judgment. His effects, after his decease, were appraised at 
$200,000, besides a large quantity of worthless paper; but the 
appraisal was far above the amount realized by his heirs. At 
the time of his decease he had corrected and was about to 
publish a new map of Maine ; the map was published after his 
decease. He was Chairman of the Selectmen of Ellsworth for 
nearly twenty years ; he was Commandant of the Cobb Light 
Infantry in the war of 181 2, afterwards commanded the Regi- 
ment. He also held many other offices of trust ; he was very 
modest and unassuming ; had he asked for them, he might 
have had any offices in the gift of the people. 



GRANDFATHER PADELFORD. 

The following beautiful sketch of my grandfather, Seth 
Padelford, of Taunton, Mass., was written by my friend J. W. 
D. Hall, of Taunton, Mass., in the spring of 1885, in his 78th 
year. 

" Hon. Seth Padelford, was born in Taunton, in Decern- 



40 

ber, 1750, fifth in descent from Jonathan, the emigrant of 
1628-30, and son of John and Jemima Padelford. He was grad- 
uated at Yale College in 1770. After completing his studies 
he entered the profession of law and became a prominent 
counsellor. He married Rebecca, (daughter of Abraham 
Dennis,) born 1756, died 1822, and they had eleven children, 
the ninth being Rebecca Dennis, who married Col. John Gil- 
more Deane. In 1798, the degree of LL. D. was conferred 
upon him by Brown University. Judge Padelford was an able 
and sound legal counsellor, and many years stood the acknow- 
ledged head of the Bristol bar. He was county Treasurer in 
1783, and for twenty years, from 1790, to January 7th, 18 10, 
the day of his death, was Judge of Probate of the county 
of Bristol, to the universal satisfaction of the people. He was 
a Free Mason, and the first Master of King David Lodge, of 
Taunton. He was esteemed as the conscientious lawyer, the 
humane and unexceptionably upright judge, to whom all cases 
within his jurisdiction were referred with implicit confidence in 
his decisions as the " protector of the widows and orphans," and 
just to all. He died in the vigor of manhood, beloved and 
honored by the whole community. He resided from 1777 to 
1810, in the fine old mansion on the Northwest corner of the 
" green," or " ancient training field," adjoining the old Court 
House and county offices. This mansion was built in 1757, 
by Ratcliffe Hellon, a merchant, who occupied it a few years. 
After him it was owned by several persons, till 1770, when it 
came into the possession of the brilliant Daniel Leonard, 
author of the celebrated pamphlet " Massachusettensis," who 
became a loyalist (or tory) in the days of 1776, and fled from 
Taunton and joined the British at Boston. After he left Judge 
Padelford purchased the house. It has, since his decease, 
been nicely kept up, and though removed in 1817 a short dis- 
tance and divested of shrubbery in front, yet wears the same 
general aspect that it did in my boyhood days after Judge 
Padelford's decease." 

In the same connection the following extract is made from 



41 

an article contributed by Rev. S. Hopkins Emery, of Taunton, 
in 1883, to the History of Bristol County, Massachusetts : 

" He was a highly dignified and polished gentleman, of great 
integrity of character, and he was favored with a wife who 
adorned the society in which she moved. Long after they 
ceased to be among the living of earth, their praise was in the 
mouth of those who remembered their wide and commanding 
influence. 

"Judge Padelford died January 7, 1810, aged 58 years and 
one month. On the stone slab which covers his remains on 
the ' Plain; is the following inscription : 

" ' For he was wise to know and warm to praise and strenu- 
ous to transcribe in human life the mind almighty.' " 



UNCLE AUGUSTUS. 

Mr. Hall sends me the 'following brief record about my 
uncle, J. Augustus Deane : 

"Joseph Augustus Deane (sixth from John and Alice Deane, 
of Taunton,) was the second son of Joseph and Mary Gilmore 
Deane, of Raynham, Mass., born June 25, 1802. After work- 
ing upon the old homestead of his father and attending public 
school and a season at Bristol Academy, until 18 years of age, 
he went to Ellsworth, Me., in 1820, and entered the office of 
his brother, Col. John G. Deane, as a student at law. In August, 
1 82 1, he left his studies and engaged as clerk in the store of 
Col. John Black, in Ellsworth, and became a partner in the 
business at twenty-one, remaining a few years. In 1833 he 
was appointed clerk of the court of Hancock County, and set- 
tled at Castine, then the shire town, remaining there until 
superseded in 1838. He was reappointed in 1839, with the 
office at Ellsworth, and again superseded in 1841. During a 
portion of the intervening years, Mr. Deane was engaged in 
land surveying, of which few men in the State had more scien- 
tific and accurate knowledge, as he had made it a study in his 



42 

younger days, theoretically and practically, and afterwards 
under the skillful instructions of his brother. In consequence 
of his business and official occupations he had not received 
an admission to the bar until 1844, after which he continued 
in practice at Ellsworth many years, except at intervals when 
holding the deputy collectorship at Gouldsboro', under Demo- 
cratic rule. In politics he was a Democrat, from convic- 
tion and on principle, and though earnest in his convictions 
was always an honest politician. After his clerkship ended 
he never again sought office. He possessed a remarkably 
retentive memory of political and historical data and events, 
was an extensive reader, fond of books, and collected a large 
library. His general historical information of the world was 
excelled by very few men. His knowledge of the topography 
of the State and his immediate county was remarkable in ac- 
curacy. Possessing rare conversational and persuasive pow- 
ers, he was very entertaining and genial in interviews with his 
friends. He was kind hearted, sympathetic and liberal to a 
fault. In person he was about six feet two inches tall ; com- 
plexion, light ; robust, but not stout. In early years his hair 
was of a brownish tint. When I saw him last, in 1873, his full 
white beard gave him quite a patriarchal appearance, but he 
was in the entire possession of all his mental faculties, and as 
interesting as ever in conversation. 

"August 17, 1830, Col. J. A. Deane married Eliza, daughter 
of Col. Nathaniel Fales, of Taunton, Mass. ; they had three chil- 
dren, viz., Mary A., born July n, 1831, died October 6, 1862; 
Sabra W., born October 31, 1832; John Gilmore, born July 
27, 1839, died June 17, 1841. Mrs. Deane died October 16, 
1869. Sabra married Amory Otis, of Ellsworth. Mr. Otis 
died August 25th, 1872, in his 58th year. Mrs. Otis is now a 
resident of Ellsworth." 

On page 9 I have mentioned the fact that my parents cared 
for their orphaned neices and nephews : 

Among these were Ann P. Cook, daughter of my aunt 
Nancy (daughter of Judge Padelford) and Samuel E. Cook. 



43 

She was long an inmate of our family in Ellsworth, and came 
with us to Portland. About 1836 she married J. Tilden Moul- 
ton, son of Dr. Moulton, of Bucksport, and graduate of Bow- 
doin College, in the class of 1830. They first resided at 
Columbia, but in a short time moved to Cherryfield. (On 
page 14 it is said that my father died at their residence. Since 
that form was struck off I learn that this sad event took place 
at Miss Nash's boarding house, where Mr. and Mrs. Moulton 
were in constant attendance upon my father.) My uncle 
Augustus, in his memoranda, from which I have elsewhere 
quoted, says: " Her native talents were very superior, and had 
they been properly cultivated she would have been a very 
brilliant woman." I remember well a local reputation she had 
as a poetess. They had one son and several daughters. She 
died about 1845. 

Another daughter, Rebecca P., was, for many years after 
her parents' death, with my grandparents Deane, and after 
their decease was as much a member of our family, and re- 
garded by us all as our own sister. About 1858 she married 
Alvah Conant, Esq., of Portland, with whom she lived very 
happily till her death, about 1864. 



The following is copied from the " Daily Press" of Portland, 
April 9, 1873 : 

" Henry P. Deane. — Action of the Cumberland Bar. 

"At the close of the calling of the docket of the Supreme 
Court yesterday, Hon. Nathan Webb, Vice-President of the 
Cumberland Bar Association, presented the following resolu- 
tions in reference to the late Henry P. Deane, Esq., with ap- 
propriate remarks : 

" The Committee appointed by the Cumberland Bar Associa- 
tion, at its last meeting, March 26th, to prepare resolutions 
relative to the death of the late Henry P. Deane, Esq., to pre- 



44 

sent to the Supreme Judicial Court at the approaching term, 
having attended to that duty, beg leave to report the following : 

" Whereas, it has pleased Divine Providence to remove from 
earthly associations our friend and brother, Henry P. Deane: 

" Resolved, That we deeply lament his death, and shall sor- 
rowfully miss his pleasant face and cordial greeting. 

" Resolved, That our departed associate, by his energy, zeal 
and talent, as well as by his fidelity to the duties of a coun- 
sellor, and by his courtesy to his professional associates, de- 
servedly gained an honorable standing at this Bar. 

" Resolved, That by his decease this community has lost a 
valuable citizen, this Bar an esteemed comrade, his friends a 
generous friend, who, in the various and responsible duties he 
has been called to discharge, has never failed to secure respect 
and approval. 

"Resolved, That we sympathize with his afflicted family, and 
that a copy of these resolutions authenticated by the officers 
of our Association be communicated to them. 

" The resolutions were seconded by Byron D. Verrill, Esq., 
who spoke as follows : 

" May it please your Honor : — In accordance with a request 
of the committee and a vote of the Association, I beg leave to 
second these resolutions. They fittingly express the senti- 
ments I am sure we all entertain. 

" So frequently are we called to mourn the loss of some 
esteemed brother — often, as in this instance, in the very prime 
of his manhood — that we can but realize the shadowy uncer- 
tainty of mortal life. In such a case as this it is sad indeed to 
think of severing strong earthly ties ; but it is pleasant to re- 
flect that our departed brother was worthy of all the praise we 
may bestow. I measure my words. I speak of Henry P. 
Deane as I have known him in the intimate business and social 
relations of the last six years. To know him intimately was 
to esteem him highly, and I have been impressed with a deep 
sense of his manly worth. 

" His standard of moral duty was high, and by that standard 






45 

he was governed — I may say rigidly governed — in his daily 
business transactions. Scrupulously and minutely exact in his 
dealings with all men, he was equally honest in all things large 
and small. Tenacious of his own rights, he was also consid- 
erate of the rights of others. 

"Always faithful to the interests of his clients, I believe he 
never forgot the duties and obligations of his profession. His 
investigation of legal questions was habitually thorough, careful 
and painstaking to the last degree, so that as a prudent and 
safe counsellor he had few equals. His caution was very 
marked, but his zeal was unbounded ; and into every under- 
taking which met the sanction of his judgment and the approval 
of his conscience, he threw his whole soul, sparing no labor, 
neglecting no effort, yielding to no obstacle that was in any 
way superable. 

" His tastes were decidedly literary and social. In addition 
to the studies and labors of his profession and other affairs in 
which he engaged, he gave no little attention to general litera- 
ture, and especially to historical and political learning. 

" Enthusiasm was a marked characteristic of our lamented 
brother. I have never known another who enjoyed all the 
amenities and luxuries, and even the common-places of life 
with so keen a relish. Nature freely yielded to his senses her 
inexhaustible charms, and his geniality was overflowing. And 
yet, notwithstanding the fervent order of his temperament, he 
was conspicuously tempered in all things. 

" His nature was also sensitive and sympathetic, and a dis- 
criminating, unostentatious charity was one of his great vir- 
tues. His affections were strong and deep, and his friendships 
whole-souled. In whom he confided, his confidence was im- 
plicit ; in whom he trusted, his faith was supreme. Such also 
was his faith and such his trust in God — firm and unshaken. 
No fear of death, no doubts of the future seemed ever to disturb 
his mind. Nevertheless, such and so strong were his affec- 
tions, so congenial the associations of life, society, literature 
and business, and so inexpressibly tender the endearments of 
a beautiful, happy home and its loved ones, that he clung 



46 

firmly to life and struggled long and manfully against the en- 
croachments of disease ; preparing and arranging his business 
months ago for the worst, he still remained hopeful and cheer- 
ful to the last. Alas, how often is this sad story repeated ! 
One after another of our brotherhood Death taps upon the 
shoulder ; we vanish, and the places which have known us 
know us no more forever. Only the memory of the departed 
is left us — a sweet and hallowed memory to be sacredly cher- 
ished until we, too, shall answer the sure and final summons, 
and go to join the brotherhood beyond the dark river. 

"Judge Goddard spoke as follows: 

" May it please the Court: — I am unwilling to allow this occa- 
sion to pass without offering a brief tribute to the memory of 
my departed schoolmate and friend who was for more than a 
quarter of a century my associate at this bar. 

" Mr. Deane died in Boston on Tuesday, the 25th of last 
month, in the fiftieth year of his age, while on his homeward 
journey from Florida, whither he had gone a few weeks before 
in the hope of restoring his failing health. 

" He was a son of the late John G. Deane, Esq., and a native 
of Ellsworth, but he came with his parents to this city while 
yet a boy, and pursued his academical studies here, entering 
Bowdoin College in 1840, and graduating with high honors in 
1844. In the office of Willis & Fessenden he prepared him- 
self for the bar, and was admitted in 1847. Two years after, 
at the age of 26, he was chosen a representative from this city, 
and, having been re-elected, served at the sessions of the 30th 
and 31st Legislature. 

" In 1852, at the expiration of his legislative term, he was 
chosen Attorney for this county, performing the responsible 
duties of that office for three years. In 1862 he was elected 
City Solicitor, serving two years. In 1867 he was appointed 
by President Johnson Surveyor of this Port, an office which 
he filled for three years. 

"For several years before his death he had been a director of 
the P. & R. R. Co., and the legal adviser of that corporation. 



47 

" During this whole period he continued the practice of his 
profession in the State and Federal courts. 

"Our friend's life exemplified these marked characteristics : 
enthusiasm for his profession, strict, inflexible integrity, chival- 
rous honor and courage. Among all my acquaintances I 
never knew one whose love for the law seemed to equal his; 
it was the dream of his boyhood and the passion of his col- 
legiate days. Longing for the hour when he might enter the 
forensic arena and do battle for the right, he chose for the 
oration which rewarded his distinguished scholarship, ' The 
Legal Profession.' This early fondness for his chosen pursuit 
was an earnest of the industry and fidelity in its study which 
gained him the speedy and brilliant success to which reference 
has been made. Mr. Deane was a man of irreproachable 
morals and of stainless integrity. His conversation, like his 
life from earliest youth, bore witness to the purity of his heart. 
I venture to say that the man does not live who ever heard an 
unworthy suggestion, a demoralizing sentiment, a questionable 
expression fall from his lips. He was a gentleman of honor 
and delicacy, ambitious without envy, incapable of jealousy or 
suspicion. He never uttered even in private what he did not 
believe to be the exact truth, nor what he was not willing and 
anxious to say publicly. He never spoke of another in secret 
what he was not ready to make good to his face. His chivalrous 
nature gave him a strong inclination for military life, for which 
I suspect he would, at the breaking out of the rebellion, have 
abandoned even the law but for the infirmity of his vision. 

" Mr. Deane was a public man, and as such is known to our 
whole community as a prudent legislator, a faithful and incor- 
ruptible prosecutor, a wise municipal counsellor, and an enter- 
prising and public spirited man of business. He is known to 
us as a zealous but fair-minded advocate, a genial friend, an 
agreeable associate, a high-toned, pure-minded gentleman, and 
a sincere consistent Christian. 

" To your Honor, as well as to myself, Henry P. Deane was 
endeared by the ineffaceable memories of college life, and I 
am sure that down the three decades which have passed come 
only pleasant reminiscences of our deceased classmate. 



48 

"Judge Virgin responded substantially as follows: 
"As already intimated, it is but a few months less than thirty 
years since forty-five young men, standing under their class- 
tree, gave each other the parting grasp, bade adieu to their 
'Alma Mater,' and hopefully, and ' with a will for any fate/ 
turned their faces world-ward. To-day, with melancholy satis- 
faction, one of the thirty survivors of that class, as the organ 
of this court, most sincerely concurs in the justice of the de- 
serving tribute which your resolutions — ' words like apples of 
gold in pictures of silver' — and the feeling and appropriate 
accompanying remarks, pay to another of that original num- 
ber, Henry P. Deane, late of this city, and member of this Bar, 
and to order the same to be spread upon the record of this 
court as a memorial of the court in which all feel a common 
affliction. 

" When such an one dies, between whom and us such strong 
friendship and intimate relations necessarily subsist, the inevi- 
tableness of what we call death is brought home to us with 
more than usual force, for it is next to losing one from our 
own individual household ; and the common-place, ' we must 
all die,' suddenly transforms itself into the acute consciousness 
' I must die and soon,' and we almost seem to stand upon the 
dark river brink listening for the 'plash of the on-coming oar,' 
and expecting the summons from what the superstitious of the 
past called the ' King of Terrors,' whose realm is the grave, 
but whose arm is palsied by the sword of the spirit, and whose 
crown of terrors melts away before the eye of Christian faith. 
For within the field of Faith's vision — 

" 'There is no Death! What seems so is transition, 
This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life Elysian, 
Whose portal we call Death. 

" Still none of us has such dulled sensibilities as not to be 
moved by sorrow and sadness at the final departure of such 
a friend, however strongly our faith may assure us that it is 
He ' who does all things well,' who ' made and loveth all,' 



49 

has called him to Himself. I knew our late deceased brother 
more thoroughly while he was laying deep the foundations of 
his manhood's usefulness than latterly. I was a daily witness 
of how rapidly assiduous and methodical labor, undisturbed 
by any bad habits, could develop his intellectual faculties, and 
as frequently was I an admirer of the purity and high purpose 
of those youthful years, for although he possessed a sanguine 
temperament, was active, and, at times, apparently somewhat 
impulsive, still his instincts being right, however far he went 
they took away from him the power to go in the wrong direc- 
tion. And notwithstanding he was somewhat impulsive, he 
was never reckless nor even rash, but opened as many of 
'Argus's hundred eyes,' before using any of'Briaren's hun- 
dred hands,' as any young man of his warm blood well could. 
Although I have known our friend less intimately latterly, 
until quite recently, still I have seen him frequently enough 
in the social walks of life, and while he was in the discharge of 
public and professional duties, to learn what your resolutions 
and remarks so abundantly confirm me in believing, that those 
lessons of wisdom so early practiced and acted upon while 
preparing for the more stern and rugged duties of life had be- 
come his 'heart's lore,' and the foundation stones of that 
character which the winds and floods of the world, beat they 
ever so violently, could in no degree wash away. 

" ' His conscience never flirted with beautiful ideals of good- 
ness,' for his moral character was not based upon arguments 
and opinions even, but upon convictions ; and no one who 
ever heard him speak concerning them ever doubted on which 
side of the questions of real reform his influence was enlisted, 
for his acts and his lips, though speaking a different dialect, 
expressed the same sentiments, and his moral digestion was 
never impaired by his eating his own words. 

" To the outside world it may sometimes seem that members 
of our profession, when paying their respects to the memory 
of their deceased brethren, do more than act upon the char- 
itable maxim ' nil de rnortius nisi bonum,' and eulogize them 
too highly. But human nature generally is better than it 



50 

seems, and in relation to the really good man 'tis nearness and 
not distance lends enchantment. In the felicitious language 
of another, ' a sense of brotherhood may grow up between 
members of our profession stronger and more enduring than 
between members of any other profession. We get to know 
each other by heart. In the steady contemplation and ripening 
knowledge of the law, of its principles and relations, there is a 
mystic power which takes common possession of the inner life 
of the initiated, which blends, assimilates and harmonizes minds 
otherwise alien and irreconcilable. Hence it is that those who 
might seem to have but little in common with this our departed 
brother, were in sympathy, confidence and regard very near to 
him, as he was very near to us. We witnessed his professional 
growth with pride, shared his achievements, and by relation 
appropriated his honors. 

"This, then, is the true record which our brother has left be- 
hind him. If he performed no brilliant achievement which 
the obstreperous world looking through the enchanting 
medium of distance has chronicled as great, neither has he 
done anything to tarnish the record of a good life, or sully his 
memory ; but he performed all his duties as a public and pri- 
vate citizen with fidelity. I have heard with great satisfaction 
the expression of high appreciation which this Bar continues 
t<> entertain of the inflexible integrity of its members ; and I 
am glad to know, as well from your words, that during these 
latter days of embezzlements, defalcations and other numerous 
evidences of corruption, this Bar has not lowered its standard 
of honest worth, but holds it in as high estimate now as when 
its great representative shed the lustre of his high character 
in the counsels and departments of the nation. And if I might 
presume to add a closing injunction to so old and honored an 
association, I would say, especially to the younger members, 
stand fast to your integrity, for it would seem as if the Bar, as 
a whole, is among the last anchors that now holds the institu- 
tions of the country to their old moorings. 

"The Judge then ordered the proceedings to be entered on 
the records, and adjourned the Court until this morning." 



51 



Extracts from My Father's Letters to Miss Rebecca D. 
Padelford (Afterwards his Wife). 

The postage on the single letters was twenty cents. 

He sailed from Boston Thursday. September 21, 1809, for 
Ellsworth, and reached the mouth of Union River the Satur- 
dav following. He writes Monday. September 25, 1S09, from 
Ellsworth : 

" When we arrived at the head of the bay the tide did not 
suit for passing the bar, therefore I requested the Captain to 
set me ashore. I was landed in the town of Surry, two miles 
from Ellsworth. After traveling nearly a mile on an uncon- 
scionable road, I was surprised at finding one nearly as good 
as roads in general in and about Taunton. The people bear 
no sort of resemblance to the natural appearance of the coun- 
try. They have treated me. so far, with great attention. I 
took coffee last evening with Mr. Herbert, and found him an 
intelligent, learned and social man ; and was much pleased 
with Mrs. Herbert, she is a very chatty lad}-. * * * I at- 
tended meeting yesterday, and was very agreeably entertained 
by their minister, Mr. Brewer, who was sent to this place by a 
missionary society ; from his sermons I should judge him to 
be a man of more than ordinary promise. I have found a 
room for an office, and a place to lay my head. The board- 
ing house is the best in this part of the country ; it is kept by 
Mr. Sawyer. Mr. Brewer boards here, and a doctor and 
schoolmaster. I calculate on having a very social time. Mr. 
Black was here to-day. To-morrow I shall visit the Penob- 
country. and shall undoubtedly call on Mr. Brown. It is ne- 
cessary for me to go to Castine to procure some blanks before 
I can commence business in this place. The \\ est- 

ern mail arrives hereon Tuesday evening, and goes out on 
Monday evening or Tuesday morning. If you put your let- 



52 

ters in Taunton post office on Monday, I shall receive them 
the Sunday following." 

"Ellsworth, Oct. 3, 1809. — * * * I concluded to take a 
tour to see of what material the country was made, as well as 
to see if I could not find a more eligible situation. The first 
six miles were tolerable ; the next seven lay through a wilder- 
ness, and I saw not a human being in that distance. Then I 
came to Bluehill, a large and pleasant town for this country. 
The road was good through that town. The next two miles 
were bad, beyond all description ; then the road grew more 
and more pleasant, until I arrived at Buckstown, a very pleas- 
ant village." From thence he proceeded to Hampden, to visit 
Mr. and Mrs. Brown (Melinda Padelford). 

" The second day after my arrival, by the aid of Mr. B., I 
became acquainted with General Ulmer. The General rec- 
ommended Lincolnville to me, and made some very fair offers 
if I should see cause to settle there. His offer was to take 
me into his family to board, and would give me business 
enough to pay my board. But previous to any positive de- 
termination on my part, the General very politely invited me 
to visit him at his house in Lincolnville. I consented. Lin- 
colnville is on the west side of Penobscot bay, thirty-five miles 
below Hampden. Friday last I started from Hampden for 
Castine; three miles from Castine I found Major Langdon, of 
Ellsworth, and sent my horse home ; traveled on foot to Cas- 
tine ; found Gen; U. there ; spent the evening with him and sev- 
eral gentlemen. Early Saturday morning went in quest of a 
boat to set me across the bay, but found none that would sail 
till evening. Some time in the forenoon I went into Judge 
Nelson's office, procured all necessary blanks, and dined with 
his honor, and passed four or five hours very sociably ; at sun- 
set the boat set sail across the bay, which is about fourteen or 
fifteen miles wide. Was landed at Northport at little past nine 
o'clock ; it was very rainy, and exceedingly dark ; the roads 
were rough and muddy, but, notwithstanding all these diffi- 
culties, I traveled two or three miles till my guide found me 
a place to lodge. In the morning I set out for Gen. Ulmer's > 



53 

who lived five miles distant. I spent Sunday with the General, 
conversed with the people relative to my settling there, but 
the prospect was not flattering. * * * Monday morning 
the General furnished me a horse, to travel to Belfast, but the 
packet in which 1 took passage was under way, and I was 
obliged to leave the horse one and a half miles from Belfast, 
near to the shore, and hail the packet. I was fortunate in 
obtaining my passage. My next object was to gain the post 
road from Ellsworth to Buckstown before the post should pass, 
but, alas, the attempt was fruitless ; I was on foot and had fif- 
teen miles to travel over such road as your eye never beheld. 
* * * About 4 o'clock, P. M., to-day, I arrived in Ells- 
worth. The distance from Castine is about thirty miles ; the 
most of it I traveled on foot. * * * To set out well with 
the people is an object of the first magnitude. Herbert is ex- 
tremely popular ; he is established, and I cannot succeed if 
my efforts are not unremitting." * * * 

" Oct. 6, 1809. — I have progressed very slowly in preparing 
my office. I have set up my books, procured one chair, one 
bench and a table ; now am quite ready to begin. My pros- 
pects are not flattering. The society of the place is very good, 
considering all circumstances. I have met none so good in 
this country, and I believe in but few places in the vicinity of 
Taunton." 1 

"Oct. 16, 1809. — To-day I came near failing to send you a 
letter. The reason was this : a new carrier brought the mail, 
who traveled with more expedition than the old one, and I, 
unapprised of the alteration, had made my calculation of de- 
positing my letter at the usual hour. But, when I found I 
was too late, I set out and ran half a mile and put the letter 
into the post's hands; he promised to place it in the mail at 
Bluehill. * * * I hope to visit Taunton before January. 
I must go by water ; traveling by land is terrible, I have tried 
it to my satisfaction." 

" Nov., 1 809. — Gen. Ulmer has called on me and again urged 
me to settle in Lincolnville. As an inducement, he has offered 
to board me, and do something more for me in the business 



54 

he will put into my hands. From the first the General has 
treated me with the greatest politeness, and I feel much in- 
debted to him." 

" Nov. 2, 1809, Thursday. — I never witnessed a more pleas- 
ant autumn, so far as relates to the weather, since I have been 
here ; we have had but two or three small rains, and those in 
the night; to-day it is raining — you can hardly conceive how ' 
muddy the roads are; the soil is clayey, and in wet weather a 
person's feet stick fast." 

" Sunday evening, 5th Nov. — I have not seen your letter as 
I anticipated ; I suppose it has arrived, but the post office is 
on one side of the river and I am on the other. The bridge 
has been broken down, but people can pass over its ruins on 
foot in daylight. The post does not arrive till 7 or 8 o'clock 
at night, and it would have been very dangerous to attempt 
crossing the bridge at night." 

"Dec. 12, 1809. — By last mail no letter from you. I con- 
sole myself that it was not your fault, but more from the fol- 
lowing cause : The last mail was soaked through, the contents 
very wet and much worn ; no mail went East of this place ; 
the carrier said he would not have left Bluehill had he known 
how bad the traveling was. * * * I spent the whole of 
yesterday afternoon in pursuit of the apples, and obtained a 
barrel, on which we all feasted last evening. The vessel 
brought seventy barrels, and we are to have six. As a reward 
for my diligence and success my landlady is busy making pies, 
on which we shall feast this evening. We have had some 
apples before, occasionally, but they were such as would not 
be eaten at the Westward. These are really large and excel- 
lent. The condition of the poor of this place will not be so 
wretched this winter, as I apprehended some time ago. Pro- 
visions have arrived, and if they will work they can obtain a 
supply." 

"Dec. 17. — Yesterday I was again employed in a voyage 

down the river, to aid Mr. Sawyer in boating up winter stores." 

" Dec. 18. — I received, not one, but three letters in the last 

mail. There was company at our house, so I read only one 



55 

before going to bed ; when the house was still I built a fire 
and read the others." 

" June 27, 1 8 10. — I had an invitation to ride to-day, but de- 
clined. The party consisted of six, all mounted on horseback ; 
they made a. very good appearance, but could you see the road 
you would doubt if they could have a pleasant ride. I have 
* done scarcely anything for past few days, beyond attending to 
a little military business and some Fourth of July matters." 

"June 30. — Strawberries are very thick, and just ripe; straw- 
berries and gooseberries are almost the only fruit this country 
produces, and they are very nice. Our company have agreed 
on their uniform, which is a red coat trimmed up with black, 
white waistcoat and pantaloons trimmed with red cord, black- 
gaiters, and caps like the Raynham company, or hats in form 
of officers' hats, with feathers." 

" Sunday. — We trained last night till dark, and I was tired 
enough to go home and go to bed. I have not one spark of 
military enthusiasm — not enough to make this business the 
slightest amusement." 

" Thursday, July 5, 1810— Last Monday night I went to 
Frenchman's Bay, and was all night on the water in an open 
boat; returned Thursday, had a fair wind; sailed the boat by 
the assistance of slabs. We appeared more like Indians than 
civilized beings. The voyage, on the whole, was not unpleas- 
ant, though I was goaded by flies and mosquitoes and exposed 
to the scorching rays of the sun. You may wish to know 
what induced me to take this voyage of seventeen or eighteen 
miles ; it was only to procure a field piece for the Fourth of 
July. Yesterday we had as pleasant a time as could be ex- 
pected in this place ; indeed, it far exceeded my expectations ; 
nearly sixty dined at one table. Our amusements were train- 
ing, discharging our muskets, bowling, drinking, &c, &c, and 
conversation. There was a ball in the evening ; I went to it, 
but only stayed a short time. To-day four of us went into 
the field and picked nearly a peck of strawberries ; in places 
the surface of the ground was almost red with them." 



56 

I have above quoted as much as seems to be well from 
these, to me, most interesting and vivid letters. In places in 
them my father describes his first boarding house. It was 
kept by Mr. Sawyer, " a clever and industrious man ; he likes 
good living and good cheer ; he came from Reading, Mass." 
But it is evident that, so far as the management of household 
affairs, Mrs. Sawyer was the chief personage. She is described 
as an " intelligent and, considering her opportunities, a superi- 
or woman." There were also at the same house " Mrs. Capt. 
Peters ; her husband resided in Boston." Mrs. Peters " has a 
fine little boy, named Alexander Hamilton Peters, with whom 
I frequently amuse myself. A missionary preacher, John 
Brewer by name, boards here ; he is an intelligent, social and 
well informed young man. He has been a great traveler, and 
frequently amuses us by narrations of his adventures. He has 
traveled by land and by water, horseback and on foot ; he has 
been everywhere, and seen everything; as a preacher, he holds 
high rank, and is veiy popular with the people of this place. 
He will continue here but three weeks more ; I am sure I shall 
miss him, and regret his absence. The physician of the place 
boards here ; he is a clever young man ; but the place is very 
healthy, therefore the people can dispense with a physician of 
the first rank. The schoolmaster is likewise a boarder." 

Mention is also made of occasional calls on Squire Herbert, 
who was at one time very sick ; also of visits to Col. Jordan's; 
also of Mr. Jones and his family, the female members of which 
are spoken of as very well educated ; also of his acquaintance 
with Capt. Black. I suppose this to be John Black, and that 
his title of Captain was derived from his position in the Cobb 
Light Infantry, the military company, probably, referred to in 
the foregoing extracts, and, I think, named after Gen. Cobb, 
who had large landed possessions in the vicinity of Ellsworth. 
He came from Massachusetts, and Capt. Black married his 
daughter. 



57 
Letter from Mrs. Milliken. 

I wrote Mrs. C. J. Milliken, of Boston, Mass., for the tem- 
porary loan of a manuscript history of Ellsworth, written by 
her kinswoman, Miss Martha Jellison. Mrs. Milliken very 
kindly sent me the following copy of the mention made therein 
by the author : 

"In 1 8 1 1 John G. Deane, from Ray n ham, Mass., established 
himself in Ellsworth as attorney at law. He married Rebecca, 
daughter of Judge Padelford, of Taunton, Mass. Mr. Deane 
followed the legal profession until he was the father of a large 
family. He then made some profitable investments which en- 
abled him to move to Portland. 

" Mr. Deane was respected by all classes of society as a 
man who conscientiously discharged the business entrusted to 
him. He was a kind husband, an affectionate father, and -a 
good neighbor." 

And then Mrs. Milliken adds the following notes by herself, 
which contain so many interesting and valuable facts that I 
take the liberty to print them here : 

"Boston, May 31, 1885. 

"My Dear Mr. Deane: 

***** 

" Ellsworth must have been a very crude little town in 181 1, 
although it was settled as early as 1773. Its only means of 
communication with the world was by water, the voyage to 
Boston often taking several weeks. There was a road to Cas- 
tine at an early date after the settlement, but the road to Bangor 
was not built until 181 5, that to Bucksport in 1812, and there 
was no better way through the Eastern wilderness than a 
hunter's and lumberer's path until much later. For years 
there was one mail West each week, carried on horseback 
through Surrey and Bluehill to Bucksport, the postboy ford- 
ing the creeks. 

" The wealth was for years exclusively in lumber, the inhab- 



58 

itants finding it more profitable to send their lumber West in 
exchange for supplies. 

" My great grandfather, who was the original settler and 
owner of a large part of the town, and who, being a loyalist, 
went off with the English troops from Castine, built the first 
mills and vessels, and brought with him a superior class of 
men from Scarboro' and Spurwink. Early in 1800 (I think) 
Col. Black came with a Mr. Williams as agent for the great 
Bingham purchase, which comprised many townships. About 
the same time the Jarvis family came to improve their tract 
of lumber, called the ' Jarvis Gore,' and settled in Surry, 
where they built a fine house. You may remember that 
Leonard Jarvis represented the district in Congress. 

" The Otises came from Boston as agents for the property 
that afterward bore their name. I think they were not owners. 
Gen. Cobb's grant of land for military service was in Sullivan, 
and when he came to live on it the Sargents, of Boston, came 
as neighbors. Mary Cobb became Mrs. Black, and Katharine 
Sargent Mrs. Jones, or Madame Jones, as I knew her. 

" These families, though they lived at some distance, con- 
stituted a more cultivated society than many of the pioneer 
towns could boast, and the more cultured of the earlier set- 
tlers gathered about them. As late as I can remember there 
was a superior tone to the society. 

"The only religious worship before 181 2 was irregular, 
there being no church organization and no clergyman of re- 
pute. In 181 1 Mr. Nourse, of Bolton, Mass., was settled as 
pastor and schoolmaster, the two offices having always been 
united. In 181 2 the first church was organized, and the sys- 
tem of education, which made a complete revolution in the 
whole district. No more enthusiastic or self-denying teacher 
ever lived than Parson Nourse, and the town owed more to 
him than to any other of its citizens. 

"As lumbering was the principal business, all other was sub- 
sidiary to it. There had been several ' traders' before Edward 
D. Peters and Major Pond, who afterward moved to Boston. 
I think that Andrew Peters came from Bluehill about the time 



59 

that your father came, and Jesse Dutton (father of the Dea- 
con), who succeeded him in business. They had the usual 
variety stores that we all associate with country places. The 
Blacks only supplied the families of their own lumbermen and 
the men who took up farms on the Bingham lands. 

" I think there was but one lawyer in town before your 
father — George Herbert. Judge Hathaway followed soon 
after. For a longtime the only physician was Dr. Peck, whose 
lumbering figure and generous powders you may remember. 
The old revolutionary pensioner in breeches and cue, of whom 
you speak in your article, I remember ; I think he had no 
friends in town, and I cannot remember his name. 

" There were more than the usual number of ' characters' in 
Ellsworth, and it has always seemed a pity that some one at 
that early time should not have ' made a note' of them. Your 
mother, with her wonderful facility of language, could have 
done it admirably. 

" I remember the great respect in which your father was 
held, both in Ellsworth and Cherryfield. He was a great loss 
to the town, which needed just such wise and liberal men to 
offset the smaller race of traders that were coming up. I copy 
on the opposite page the short notice of him found in the 
manuscript, and am sorry that I can do you no better service. 
" Very sincerely, 

" C. J. MlLLIKEN." 



On page 4 of his monograph " Northeastern Boundary," 
Gov. Washburn" says : 

" Nor should I pass from this grateful duty without some 
reference to two gentlemen, upon whose patriotic and ardent 
interest in, and thorough and perfect knowledge of, the ques- 
tions involved, in all their aspects and relations, these func- 
tionaries (Governors Lincoln, Kent and Fairfield,) always and 
safely relied. I refer to Col. John Deane, of Ellsworth, who, 



60 

in his later years, was a resident of Portland, and to the Hon. 
Charles S. Davies, also of this city." 

On page 32 as follows, about my father's report to the Leg- 
islature of 1827 : 

" So much of this message (Gov. Lincoln's) as related to 
the boundary was referred to a joint select committee, which 
made a brief report through the Hon. John G. Deane, a gen- 
tleman who, with the possible exceptions of Gov. Lincoln and 
Mr. Davies, understood this question better than any man 
living." 

On page 45, respecting my father's report to the Legislature 
of 1828, he remarks: 

" Hon. John G. Deane, on behalf of a joint select commit- 
tee, made a report so full, so accurate, so absolutely conclusive 
of every question, as to leave nothing more to be said for the 
vindication of our claims and of our interpretation of the 
treaty of 1783." 

On page 48, touching the report of 1831 : 
"A joint select committee made a vigorous report, in which 
were no sounds of uncertainty or fear, through Col. Deane." 

On page 72, respecting the report made to the Governor of 
the doings of the commission appointed to run the boundary 
line of the State : 

" In communicating this report to the Legislature of 1839, 
Gov. Kent gives the substantial facts that appear in it. He 
says : 

"Their report, which I have the pleasure to transmit to 
you, will be read with interest and satisfaction.' " * * * 



Copy of letter from Gov. Lincoln. 

" Portland, May 22d, 1827. 
" Dear Sir : 

"As it was not consistent with rules to take the map men- 
tioned in your letter from the Secretary's office, I could not 
comply with your request earlier. I have now a copy of my 



61 

own, which I send for your use. It gives me much pleasure 
to observe that your historical sketches as to our N. E. Boun- 
dary have attracted very generous attention. I think you can- 
not be too minutely particular, and I am rejoiced that the sub- 
ject has fallen into your hands. 
" I am, very cordially, 

" Yours, 

" Enoch Lincoln. 
" John G. Deane, Esq." 



In regard to Col. John Black, the following information was 
communicated to me by a valued and entirely credible corre- 
spondent : 

John Black came from England in the employ of Charles 
Richardson, the English agent of the Bingham purchase. He 
became an inmate of Gen. David Cobb's family at Gouldsboro, 
Maine. Gen. Cobb, originally a physician, acquired his mili- 
tary title after honorable service in the war of the Revolution, 
and is commonly reported to have been a member of Gen. 
Washington's staff. He moved to Gouldsboro, from Taunton, 
Mass., and after Mr. Richardson's return to England became 
the American agent of the said Bingham purchase. Col. 
Black married Polly Cobb, Gen. Cobb's youngest daughter. 
In progress of time he succeeded to the agency of said pur- 
chase, and removed to Ellsworth. 



The following pleasant letters contain many interesting items 
of information : 

Portland, Me., 20 January, 1885. 
Dear Sir : 

I have received your valued favor. I have received also 
the copy of your memoir with map of Maine, to which you 



62 

refer, from Mr. Williamson, and will retain this for the ar- 
chives. 

In regard to corrections and additions to be made in your 
pamphlet, I would say by all means make it as complete and 
perfect as possible. 

You can say on the title page : " Presented and read at a 
meeting of the Maine Historical Society, held in Portland, 
8 January, 1885." 

Yours, respectfully, 

H. W. Bryant, 

Librarian and Secretary, M. H. S. 
L. Deane, Esq., 

Washington, D. 0. 



Belfast, Me., January 19, 1885. 
My Dear Deane : 

The Historical Society will be very glad to have your 
paper printed in pamphlet form, with such additions as you 
choose to make. The reprint of so valuable a contribution as 
was yours adds to our character. 

We shall be honored in electing you a corresponding mem- 
ber at our next annual meeting. 

Very truly yours, 

Joseph Williamson. 



Portland, Maine, January 9, 1885. 
My Dear Deane : 

I cannot resist the temptation to express my delight at 
that admirable tribute of filial piety before the Maine Histori- 
cal Society yesterday. 

I was not fourteen when your distinguished father died, but I 
distinctly remember him and the reading of his obituary by 
my father in the family, and several passages were recalled after 
a lapse of forty-five years. 



63 

Not long before your father's death, I think as late as the 
summer of 1838, and perhaps 1839, I remember standing at 
our end door holding the string of my kite, which, on the 
south-westerly trade wind of the afternoon soared high over 
the U. S. Hotel, or Cumberland House, as it was called then. 

Your father came along down Centre street, and in his kindly 
way, of which you speak, stopped, looked at my kite, tried 
the string in regular boy fashion, and talked with me some 
time about kites, to my great satisfaction and pride. I doubt 
if I have thought of the incident for forty years, but your 
sketch recalled it with the vividness of last season. 
Your old friend, 

C. W. Goddard. 



Portland, Maine, January 12, 1885. 
My Dear Deane : 

I listened with a great deal of interest to your paper in 
memory of your father, read at the late meeting of the Maine 
Historical Society, and I congratulate you upon the success- 
ful grouping together therein of your recollections of the 
Ellsworth of your boyhood and of your father's services to 
the State. 

Mr. Daveis' article was well worth republishing, as a speci- 
men of choice English and an appreciative eulogy upon your 
father, who certainly deserved well of the State, if any man 
ever did. 

Yours, truly, 

Geo. E. B. Jackson. 



House of Representatives, 

Washington, D. C, January 14, 1885. 
My Dear Mr. Deane : 

I have just read with much interest your sketch of your 
father's life and public service. 



64 

I have Gov. Washburn's history of the N. E. Boundary dis- 
pute, into which I shall interleave the pages upon which is 
written this memorial. 

I well remember Black's forest, and the long night rides 
through it in the stage, with the startling information of loaded 
rifles under the driver's feet for defence against the wolves ; 
the Peters family and the noted name of Jellison ; also the 
large white State street house where you used to live in Port- 
land. How well I remember Henry and " Fred," so young 
to leave these country scenes. I never had the lovely array 
of brothers and sisters to love and lose. I thank you very 
much for allowing me to share in your memories and associ- 
ations. 

Very truly, yours, 

W. W. Rice. 



Ellsworth, Maine, Jan. 13, 1885. 
Mr. Llewellyn Deane. 

Dear Sir : — The sketch of the life of your father, Mr. 
John G. Deane, which was published in the last issue of the 
Ellsworth American, is to me of much interest. There is, in 
my mind, a chord which always vibrates at the mention of the 
early days of Ellsworth, and I feel as though your family were 
a part of the town. Although I am a stranger to you, I hold 
some advantage, for the " Deane family" are as " household 
words" to me in familiarity. I was but an infant of a few 
weeks, or months at most, when you moved from here, but 
you must have known my father, Mr. Joshua R. Jordan, who 
came here from Bangor a young man and engaged in the bus- 
of shoe making ; and my mother, who was the oldest daughter 
of Dea. Elishua Austin, whose home was on the Surry road, 
next below that of Col. John Black's. They were married in 
1832, and in 1835, the year of my birth and your removal 
from town, he entered into mercantile pursuits, in which he 
continued for many years, retiring some years before his death, 



65 

which occurred six years ago. I have heard him say, with 
much pride, that he made Miss Jesse Dutton's white satin 
wedding slippers. 

The " old Deane house" is now in our possession, my hus- 
band and his partner in trade having bought it of Geo. N. 
Black some fifteen years since. The house they moved to the 
back end of the garden ; and I have always been told that in 
your mother's time it was always a very beautiful garden. 
Roses seemed to predominate. On the spot where the house 
stood they built a large brick store. The one large chimney 
of the house was taken down and two smaller ones substituted, 
thus changing the interior considerably ; but you can still see 
the corner posts in the rooms, and the many different sized 
windows throughout the house. The exterior remains un- 
changed. We occupied the house ourselves for five years. 

Parson Nourse I have no clear recollection of, but I have 
faint visions of his teaching school in the hall of " Defiance 
Square," of Lowell memory, while we occupied the dwelling 
part of the western wing. The house occupied by him is still 
standing, though in a dilapidated condition. I had the honor 
of being presented with his study chair by Mrs. Chas. Lowell, 
when she left here for Castine, a short time before her death. 
Dr. Tenney, Parson Nourse's successor, who came here in the 
autumn of 1835, still lives among us. 

Dr. Parcher, whose name you remember, has just passed 
away with the old year, leaving many behind him who do truly 
sorrow for him. Few, indeed, are the names that remain who 
were the active spirits of the time when you were an inhabi- 
tant of Ellsworth. And as the people have changed so has 
the town. Our residence is in what was then known as "Jones' 
pasture," direct east from the Peters house on State street, or 
Bangor road, as it was then called, and north of the Beal 
place on High street, or Mt. Desert road. I mention these 
places, thinking they may be within your recollection. Sen- 
ator Hale's is next east of ours, and farther up in the pasture. 
As we have had a railroad but a year, it is hardly safe, I think, 
to boast of that. 



66 

Perhaps I have already infringed on your time and patience ; 
and if I have made a mistake in thinking you might be glad 
to hear from your old home, even through a stranger, then 
please pardon 

Mrs. Augustus W. Clark. 



225 Penn St., Brooklyn, N. Y., Jan. 19, 1885. 
Dear Cousin Lewell: 

I received an Advertiser last week, in which were your rec- 
ollections of your father and your Ellsworth home. In these 
I was very much interested, for they brought to mind many 
people I had quite forgotten. 

But I must thank you first for your kind mention of father. 
He was, indeed, one of Nature's noblemen, and as the years 
roll on I realize more and more how good and true he was. 

That " intangible vision of an old gentleman" you speak 
of must have been Major Phillips. It is his long white 
stockings that I remember most distinctly. The white shirt 
front and long walking stick I associate with Maj. Langdon. 
Major Pond died years after we moved to North Ellsworth. 

But never shall I forget good Parson Nourse, for I went to 
his school. I must have been a wee-bit of a thing, for he 
would often take me in his arms while hearing a class recite, 
and many a nap have I had there. Sometimes he would let 
me take his watch, to keep me awake, most likely. I have the 
impression that he was not very " sound in doctrine," but 
preached the love of God rather than the terrors of the law. 
He was the friend and, I think, the classmate of Channing. 
Dr. Channing gave the pulpit Bible for the first meeting house, 
so one of my aunts has told me. My father's five sisters were 
all his pupils, and all of them went as school ma'ms in that 
region. I laugh, even now, when I think of some of Aunt 
Tinker's " experiences," as she used to call therh, in " school 
ma'ming ;" but she would make the most common-place 
things seem utterly ridiculous. 

Affectionately, C. L. T. 

(Mrs. Trubshaw.) 



67 

Ellsworth, Maine, May 30, 1885. 
My Cousin : 

I yesterday received a note from you. My parents were 
married August i/tli, 1830; my sister, Mary Agnes Deane, 
was born July 1 ith, 183 1 ; she died October 6th, 1862. I was 
born October 22d, 1832 ; my brother was born July 2d, 1839, 
and died July 15th, 1 841. He was your father's namesake, 
John Gilmore Deane. My mother, Eliza Fales, was born 
October 23d, 1808, died October 7, 1869. My father died at 
2.30 on the morning of May 5th, 1873. There were never 
but we three children. I think I have answered all you have 
asked. 

My sister was named Mary for our grandmother Deane, 
Agnes for the wife of James (?) Gilmore, our first ancestress 
who came to America, of the Gilmore branch. 

My father left Massachussetts when hardly seventeen, and, 
with the exception of less than two years at the period of the 
births of my sister and myself, was never there again but 
for brief visits. I cannot remember his having been to 
Taunton but once. He was last there in the winter, about 
1 87 1. Was Mr. Hall sure in calling it 1873 ? Had he lived 
he would have gone for a final visit to the. graves of his 
kindred, and for that purpose I was to accompany him. Will 
you excuse me if I say I wonder how Mr. Hall can know 
much of my father beyond his boyhood? 

My father took great pleasure in writing a genealogy of his 
family ; he thought it would give pleasure ; he wrote it for 
me, but since I have been left all alone, I have not the courage 
to follow with eyes my father's silent pen. Still if you, the 
only other living representative of our generation, have the 
desire, I think you have the right to see what my father has 
written. I never have read the one he was writing when he 
died. All my father's papers are in the hands of the adminis- 
trator, for the administration is still open. 

I am very glad that the biography of your father will be 
written, and shall gladly receive a copy if you are willing to 
give it to me. Your father's memory is no unfamiliar one to 



68 

me, for we were taught to reverence his and our grandparents' 
memory. 

Since I knew you were living I have desired to know your ad- 
dress. Grandfather Deane gave my sister at his death the ante- 
Revolutionary tea-pot, which was Katherine Willis Deane's, 
and to my father he gave an old pair of " bull's eye" spectacles, 
supposed to have been those of Lieut. John Deane, afterward 
Capt. of Dragoons for Colony of Massachusetts, under King 
George. My father gave me an old rat-eaten commission of 
his. Whether the spectacles are genuine or no, the commission 
surely is. There is enough of it for restoration, but I have 
not had the means. I want to keep these things during my 
life, but have wished for your address to leave the things to 
you at my death. I prize the relics of my ancestors. I had 
other things which were lost at the time I had to give up my 
home so soon after my father's death, which so rapidly followed 
my husband's death. 

I have other things, such as articles woven previous to my 
father's birth, a monstrous cherry wood chest for bed linen, 
&c, a fiat brass candlestick. The tea-pot and commission I 
thought you would like," for all other things equally balanced, 
it is a good thing to have had a grandfather." My father 
framed an old deed from "John Deane, cordwainer, to Joseph 
Deane, husbandman," dated 1741, signed by John Deane and 
Phebe Deane, witnessed by Abiel Deane, David Deane, Han- 
nah Deane, Mercy Deane. I imagine it to be my grand- 
father's homestead. My father made futile attemps to trace 
his nephew, Albert Deane's family in Connecticut. 

With respect, 

Sabra W. Deane-Otis. 



Bangor, Maine, 26 Oct., 1885. 
Bro. Deane: 

Yours came to me whilst I was down in Old Alfred, at 
court, and I reserved an answer till I came home. I received 



69 

the paper some time ago which contained a sketch of your 
father, and I enjoyed it much. He is of my earliest memory. 
I used to be at your house a good deal when a small boy. 
Yours was one of the houses boys could possess to them- 
selves. I was attracted there because your brother Henry and 
I were of the same age. I have an impression we were born 
on the same day, October 9, 1822. 

I distinctly remember that your father used to notice boys 
a good deal, and many a time gave me a cent, which in those 
days would buy all a boy needed or wanted. Your father was 
very fond of fishing. In those days Union river was well 
stocked with fish, trout and perch being in abundance. I very 
well remember when your father used to go and come on his 
Madawaska circuits. I presume you may not remember the 
location of his offices. There was a wooden one once near 
your old house, which was afterwards used as a school house. 
It was finished in board sheathing inside, immensely great 
and long clean boards, and not a knot on them. I went to 
school there once to one of the Chamberlain girls. 

Afterwards he had a one-story, and, I think, a brick office, 
about where the Black store is, next to my father's, with a 
room on each side of an entry in the middle of it. One room 
was the every-day office, and the other was used on occasions. 
I can now see, in my mind's eye, John Dougherty sawing 
wood in front of the office, about the first Irishman in Ells- 
worth, and he lived at your father's many years. Your brother 
John and Charles Jordan were cronies, and so were your 
brother Joseph and William Jordan. 

Your father was fond of a nice garden, having one in which 
everything grew. He was very fond of cards. I have heard 
my mother say that at parties in the earlier days Mr. Deane 
usually wanted a game of cards. He and my father were 
friends — were of the same politics. 

Your father was quite a military man. He was a lieutenant 
in the Cobb Light Infantry on its march to Mt. Desert in the 
war of 18 1 2, and was at a time captain of the same company, 
and was also afterwards a staff officer. He was a friend and 



70 

counsellor of my mother's father, Colonel Melatiah Jordan, 
who was collector of Frenchman's Bay from 1789 until 1818, 
when he died. Your father was an appraiser on his estate ; 
Colonel Black was the administrator. 

Your father was a good man, of fine talents, great, good 
judgment, no man more honest, and possessed of those qual- 
ities which made him distinguished as a lawyer, though he was 
in quite early life attracted out of the profession. And that 
numerous family of children, a pew full at church, a school 
house and the road to school made lively by them, and now 
most all gone ! I love to think of them — to call them before 
my mind in review — but not too long, for alas, it becomes a 
picture of sadness. Your good mother, too — how well I re- 
member her as she was more than fifty years ago. 

These things have, without method or reflection flowed 
through my mind, as I took up my pen to thank you for the 
kind expressions of your letter. And I am, 

Very sincerely, yours, 

John A. Peters. 



Bangor, Maine, 20 June, 1886. 
Bro. Deane: 

I send you some letters of your father, whose memory is 
dear to me, and how much more so to you ! He was my 
father's compeer and friend. My father never himself wanted 
official position, but he loved td support his friends for places. 
Your father was in the Legislature a good deal' till 1832, when 
the Jackson forces undermined the old ruling regime of Han- 
cock county. 

In the letter of 1829 the matter alluded to was the setting 
off a part of town of Surry on to Ellsworth, and the act pre- 
vailed. Col. Black was interested. Before then Surry ran 
up to the Union River bridge. 

Yours truly, 

J. A. Peters. 



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